Senior Jaylee Rodriguez recently attended a national art competition in California for her work in 2-D art.
“I have pretty much been doing art for as long as I can remember. I have memories of drawing on the walls with crayon when I was three. I always saw my dad painting or drawing and it made me want to do it too,” said Rodriguez.
In order to participate in the national competition, she had to make it through a statewide contest as well.
“The first competition was a state competition through the Florida multicultural district. There were different categories in the fine arts, but I went for two-dimensional painting and drawing. I did my painting before I got there, and then they put it in a gallery for the day. Once it closed, judges would walk through and we could see them scribbling down stuff on their clipboards. It was super nerve racking. But I won the first place ‘merit’ award out of all of Florida, and the top three got to go to nationals.”
In March, when she found out that she was invited to nationals, Rodriguez was unsure if she would be able to attend. However, with a lot of effort and a crazy amount of fundraising, she got her plane ticket to Anaheim and was able to compete.
“The event lasted the whole week, so it was really cool to be able to see all the other performances and art work. My piece was in the exhibition hall so I was really happy watching everyone walk through and see it. I learned a lot just by looking at other people’s work, especially since some of the people there went to school for art. I actually ended up doing pretty well, in the top twenty percent of people.” said Rodriguez.
Nationals aside, Jaylee continues to take classes at Steinbrenner to expand her portfolio including AP Portfolio and AP 3-D art.
Grace Becker // News Editor
