Arts Student of the Week Kalah Jackson

According to Kalah Jackson, the Arts Student of the Week, when she got her first jewelry commission it opened a new world of possibilities for her future. Jackson saw creating jewelry as a potential way to earn money once she becomes an adult, and that will be helpful, she says, given that she is not interested in typically high paying careers.

Jackson's art has been shown at the St. Vrain School District Art Show for the last two years, and last year she was also able to show her work from a sculpture class. Students' work is also displayed around campus, and Jackson hopes it inspires other students to pick up an art class or two.

Her teachers have influenced Jackson to want to make jewelry after high school. It's hard to determine what exactly made her want to stay in the arts for the rest of her life because she has had so many influences and examples from a very young age.

Jason Watkins, the Niwot High School teacher of stage technology, nominated Jackson as Arts Student of the Week. "Jackson is a senior of the highest caliber and commitment," Watkins said. "Devoted to the arts, Jackson has many different talents."

Jackson is taking classes at NHS in metals, production theater, and sculpture, and this year she is a teacher's aide for both a metals class and the production theater class. Jackson does any prep work that Mr. Watkins needs, and makes demonstration pieces, which is her favorite part. The art department has helped her in so many ways, she admits, that it feels good to be able to help them run more smoothly.

Foremost, according to Watkins, Jackson is one of the premier dancers with the famous Centennial State Ballet, a youth ballet company in Longmont. A senior this year at the Ballet, Jackson has been there since her eighth-grade year, and she also danced at various other studios when she was younger. She is currently the senior company liaison, and it's her job to create seamless communication between the dancers and the administration.

"At Niwot Jackson also makes her talent known in metals courses," Watkins, the Metals teacher, said. "In these classes we design and build jewelry. Her work is always impeccable. Jackson also supports the performing arts department in production theater; helping with makeup, sewing, and prop making."

"Being an art student at NHS is interesting," Jackson said, "because our art staff are all some of the most interesting people you will ever meet. They speak to students like peers and give us a lot of space to figure things out on our own."

Although this does not work perfectly for every student, Jackson feels that she has benefited from having teachers who trust her to develop new skills without having to constantly supervise her work. "In my art classes I've been the most challenged, but I've also had the most success in my learning," she said.

While Jackson wouldn't say she has a favorite artist, her work is often inspired by a combination of her current interests and the art she sees in her everyday life. "I'll often have times of sticking to a theme in my art, like sophomore year when everything was in the shape of a fox, or this year when I exclusively have been using gold and copper for my pieces," she said.

"Art is an essential part of my identity," Jackson said. "In middle school I took a three-year hiatus from dance and learned exactly what I'm like when I'm not dancing. I think that was enough to make me never want to leave again, and it hasn't stopped me from finding new mediums. Jewelry feels like a complement to ballet because of how different they are. In ballet I move around a lot and create choreography to express myself, but with metals I sit still and use my fingers to create tangible pieces of art. I feel that I've found a good balance with my two mediums."

Jackson also supports the performing arts department in production theater, helping with makeup, sewing, and prop making. Because her schedule with dance was too busy to be a part of the technical theater class, she decided to take the production theater class twice. In that class the students study costume design, hand sewing, puppetry, stage makeup, and many other "safer" theater jobs that wouldn't require the students to have to stay late after school or do too much extra work. Jackson had prior sewing experience from volunteer work with her company, so she has always been quick to offer her help wherever Mr. Watkins needs it.

During the first "Nutcracker" performance last season, Jackson slipped and fell hard on her knee. It was one of her most memorable moments, but one she finds embarrassing. "It just so happened to be the knee I knelt on the most in large group dances. The rest of the shows that weekend I was in a lot of pain and had to constantly worry about my bruised knee, but I'm proud of the performance I gave in spite of that."

Between school and dance, Jackson doesn't have a lot of free time, but whenever she gets some time to herself, she likes to plan and write novels and short stories. She has a large fictional universe that she has been working on building for the last four years, as well as a book filled with handwritten one-page stories for when Jackson needs a break from that. She is always thinking of stories, and they often influence her choreography and art pieces.

After graduation Jackson hopes to move on to a postgraduate or trainee program at a larger dance company and work on building her credibility to become a choreographer someday. She also plans to keep making jewelry and working with costumes whenever she can. She cannot take a gap year from school, so Jackson plans to enroll at an online university and start slowly working on her base college credits. If she gets the opportunity, she would like to go to school for linguistics, "because languages," she said, "are also an interest of mine."