Arts Student of the Week: Paris Blue

According to Niwot High School student Paris Blue, art is emotion put into visual form. "You can see how someone's feeling," Blue said, "and you can feel it too, when you see it. It's the visual representation of someone's mood, instead of words."

Art educator Crystal Hinds selected Blue as Arts Student of the Week. "Paris has been a shining light in the art department," Hinds said. "Her unwavering humor and sunny disposition lifts even the darkest of spirits. She has always put her best foot forward, as well as helped those around her."

"I feel inspired by everything," Blue said. "I think everything is beautiful in its own way. And I really like finding the good in everything. That's what inspires my art, making a positive side of something, or seeing deeper, finding a deeper meaning in things."

The first piece of art Blue remembers making was a sculpture, formed out of wood and little wooden sticks. "I made a pig-mouse-jellyfish. A combination of all three. And it got in the art show, and it was the first art piece I made. I was very proud of myself."

Blue went to Erie Elementary and Erie Middle School, and attended Erie High School her freshman year before starting her sophomore year at NHS in 2022. "That completely changed the course of how I thought about school," she said. "I actually wrote my college essay about it--about switching schools, because it's been such an amazing experience, and I have had a straight 4.0 grade average. I have such a great relationship with all the teachers and principal, and I have so many friends."

Both of Blue's parents are artists, and her father especially enjoys comic book art. "He has a few favorite artists that draw superheroes, like Alex Ross, so I grew up with art all around me," Blue explained. "It's always been my favorite subject, and I have a lot of love and appreciation for art. I have been creating art my whole life, and I have always been big on going to museums and reading books."

Blue's favorite artist is Vincent van Gogh. She has watched several documentaries about him, and she has enjoyed learning about his work. "I have seen a couple pieces in museums, and I have remade a couple of them using paint by numbers," she said. Although Blue likes to remake art, she says that she has really just tried to go on her own path.

"I remember first grade is when I really started getting into art," she said. "In my art class, I would always help my friends draw. I would make a bunch of tracings of Garfield, and everyone would say, 'How'd you do that?' I loved trying new things. And I loved Legos. I loved building things. I make dioramas now. I'm always drawing. My dad has a whiteboard in our basement, and he got us started drawing early. We would always color and draw things on there, and then hang them up. I have two older sisters, and they love art as well."

Painting is Blue's favorite means of expression. "I used to like watercolor when I was younger," she said. "I didn't use a lot of acrylic. I used to paint every single Sunday at my mom's house. We would have a routine where we would paint every Sunday, as a family. We would all gather up in the dining room. Some of us would paint from the same inspiration, like a photo. But I would always do my own thing. My mom and sisters would do landscapes. My mom loves painting beaches, and we just all did our own thing, and it was fun.

"I like landscapes. I think those are beautiful. You can see all the different types of weather, and they can also show a certain type of mood. And I love nature. I grew up in Colorado, so I see all the beautiful nature everywhere."

Blue enjoys the assignments the students at NHS are given each month. "Eyes that show a childhood story, or a children's story," Blue offered as examples. "We have creative freedom. Right now, we're doing still life. We're learning how to paint with color theory, how to get the right shading, and how to paint glass and metal. And then we're going to get into more imaginative things."

"Having all the different art classes at Niwot-- sculpting, metals and ceramics, and drawing and painting, it's just been amazing working with all the different mediums, because I didn't have that many options at my old school," she explained.

Blue has taken all of her art classes with Hinds as her teacher. "I get along with her so well. My first art class at Niwot was a sculpting class, and she was my teacher then. And just from the start, I have been so close to her. She's just my favorite teacher."

Blue is very passionate about movies and music, and she plays a few video games, but she admits that art is really her biggest interest. "I love looking at it. I love creating it. I love hearing people talk about it. Everything about it is amazing." Blue has also explored the craft of animation. "I would make stop motion animation, or I'd make animation with Legos when I was younger," she said.

Reading is another interest. "It's a different form of art," she said. Her favorite author is Ellen Hopkins. "She writes poetry, and I think her most popular book is 'Crank.' It's about a girl with a heroin addiction, based on her daughter. I love the way she writes," Blue said.

When she travels to Europe this year, Blue hopes to visit the Louvre Museum. "It's a graduation vacation," she said, "since there are multiple people in my family graduating. I have never been before. The only art museums that I have been to are the Denver Art Museum and the Met in New York."

According to Hinds, Blue made huge progress in her art making over the years at Niwot. "I appreciate her positivity in the classroom," Hinds said, "as well as the humor. I look forward to seeing where her life takes her."

After high school, Blue plans to attend CU Boulder and major in cinema studies and moving image arts. "I'm hoping to major in art, but I know the art school is very difficult. I found cinema studies, and I could probably find a pretty good job with that. I could be an editor or a producer, and I can still incorporate my creative mind."