Have you ever thought of the young fearless confidence you possessed as a child? Before you grew up and developed various insecurities and began consuming the false perfection on your phone screen? For senior Lucia Butterfield, this has become a recent thought and motivation to inspire others.
Through her AP studio art portfolio, Lucia hopes to celebrate and transport viewers back to periods of their childhoods when they lacked a full self-awareness that enabled them to be their authentic selves.
After originally planning to pursue a series of charcoal drawings of construction workers, Lucia found that her first drawing felt more like a chore than an exciting opportunity to create.
“It sucked all the life and fun out of the project. I wanted to switch to something more personal, something more colorful,” said Lucia.
While procrastinating the charcoal drawings, Lucia came across her childhood photos on her mom’s computer. These vibrant and silly photos inspired a new portfolio theme: unfiltered and imperfect childhood moments.
“I was so inspired by the colors and by the authenticity that I found there. There was so much of me as a child where I was truly being myself,” said Lucia.
Lucia is currently working on the seventh painting of her AP art portfolio featuring paitings of her childhood photos. She has enjoyed the process of sorting through old pictures and selecting the most vibrant and silly ones.
The array of silly photos included things like Lucia flossing her teeth, chewing an apple, playing in the snow, and making funny faces. These are the kinds of photos we forget about when we chase perfection and flawlessness, erasing those we deem imperfect.
“There’s so much shame around taking a bad photo that you’re like ‘Oh my god delete that I don’t want anyone to see that,’ but I wanted to make a space where you could appreciate those photos and I’ve had so much fun with it,” said Lucia.
What may appear on the outside as an imperfect childhood photo, is really a captured moment of laughter from childhood elation and confidence.
“There’s a period of your life where you’re completely confident. You don’t have any sort of insecurity yet and you haven’t built that self-awareness. And I think that’s the period and era of my life that these paintings portray,” said Lucia.
As we grow up and enter stages of our lives like middle and high school, we realize others are perceiving us. This realization can lead to self-consciousness and putting up barriers to prevent others from seeing our true selves. Lucia uses these photos as anchors to ground herself and bring her back to what really matters: being herself.
“It’s important to look back and be like ‘Oh my god I was so cool’ There’s no need to be insecure about this because before I knew that, before I felt the social pressures, I was able to be this person and to have this freedom,” said Lucia.
She hopes that her art can inspire others to lean into authenticity and not get caught up in chasing perfection but embrace the imperfection that makes us all unique.
Creating an AP art portfolio can be a vigorous and time-consuming process, but for Lucia, it’s not a chore because she loves art.
Lucia’s AP art portfolio is not complete yet, but it already holds much sentimental value to her. She currently does not plan on selling the pieces once the portfolio is complete, but she is considering comissioning requested art pieces from online inquiries.
“For the hours that I’m making art I completely forget that I exist and I get to just have fun,” she said.
Lucia has not only found a supportive community at Hackley but also one online through her art TikTok account. She has been posting since freshman year and originally kept the account a secret, but recently revealed it. Lucia has found success on TikTok and it allows her to reach a whole new audience.
“I really love that you can express yourself and share it with people. It’s a way of communicating something about how you feel, or how you see the world, but you can do it without words and it’s universal. When I post my art online, I’m finding people that don’t even speak English can appreciate my art and that’s crazy that it can surpass languages and it can jump those barriers that a lot of things can’t,” said Lucia.
Achieving Lucia’s level of talent takes dedication and interest, but she believes anyone can do it if they enjoy it enough. She frequently thinks about Bob Ross’ popular quote, “Talent is a pursued interest.”
“If you have an interest in art, if you want to be creating art, don’t let fear of being bad stop you from making things because that’s not what it’s about. It’s about pursuing things that you’re interested in and with enough practice; with enough time, that talent comes on its own,” said Lucia.
Lucia’s portfolio currently contains six paintings and she plans on creating two more paintings, one of which will be eight feet wide. She currently is not open to commissioning pieces but is considering being open to them during the summer once her AP art portfolio is complete, as she has already received multiple messages from TikTok users requesting her to paint commissioned pieces.
