Junior Stephanie Imbierowicz likes to get messy. She feels home at home in the Art Wing with charcoal everywhere. “With charcoal, because I’m left handed, it gets all across my arm. It gets on my legs and skirt too. I like it because it means I’m really into my art,” Imbierowicz said.

Art has been an important part of Imbierowicz’s life since sixth grade. According to Imbierowicz, “[Art] calms me down, I do not have to worry about anything.”

She likes to experiment with both clay and charcoal as a medium.

“[My art] shows who I am as a person. The ceramics with all the hippie psychedelic things show my [happy] personality. On the other side, I have a lot of things inside me that people don’t know and I think I can portray that through my charcoal pieces,” Imbierowicz said. She believes her two different art forms represent her varying personality.

“What ties [her two mediums together] is her emphasis on craftsmanship. She puts everything she can into [her art] and follows through. That’s what I like about her. Everything is connected by the amount of time and love for what she does,” art teacher Michael Gaudreau said.

When asked, Imbierowicz couldn’t decide which art medium she prefers more, art or charcoal. “I don’t know, they’re completely different,” Imbierowicz said. She loves both.

Imbierowicz’s interest in charcoal was sparked while doing a self-portrait for Studio 1. “It’s what got me into charcoal. It turned out better than I was expecting and helped me figure out my style,” Imbierowicz said.

She describes her style when she works with Charcoal as distorted, but realistic. “I like darker pictures that really give meaning and you can find a story in. When you can make things more dramatic it gets the attention of people and gets the point across better,” Imbierowicz said. This contradicts with her style when she works with clay.

Her favorite pieces also include the Hamsa hands that she makes out of clay. “It all started in Mr. Gaudreau’s class when he made us do Magnolia prints.  Then he said that we could put these designs in clay and I really liked the idea and went with it,” Imbierowicz said.

Gaudreau guided her as she made several different prints, including one for a hamsa hand.

Eventually, someone saw one of the hamsa hands and liked it, so she sold it. Then, through word of mouth, more people came up to her wanting to buy one. Imbierowicz created Handmade Hippie, an online store, to sell her handmade jewelry dishes and other projects. The business is doing well, and she has already sold over ten pieces online.

“It’s nice that I can make money out of it and that people actually want to buy it,” Imbierowicz said.

Gaudreau is very excited about her business and can see her pursuing it in the future. “She loves it. And if you can actually make some money at what you love, how good is that? Who wants to do something they hate,” Gaudreau said. Despite this, Imbierowicz is unsure about whether she will pursue art in the future.

“I am in love with SCAD, but the cost is way too much. It’s also not practical to major in art. I’m not sure if I should follow what I love to do and have the risk of not succeeding. Most artists are starving artists, I don’t want that to happen to me,” Imbierowicz said.

Imbierowicz still loves to create and wants to spread her art as much as possible. Recently she designed a tattoo for a friend. “Someone is wearing my art. They are living with my creation on them for the rest of their life,” Imbierowicz said.

Kelly Foulk is a News Editor for the Patriot and jcpatriot.com.