Artist of the Week: Sofia Blades

Junior Sofia Blades is a part of the magazine the Freelancer and a part of the dance team. Art has always been a huge part of her life and something she will forever do.

What is the Freelancer?

“Freelancer is the literature and arts magazine at East. You basically submit art that is created by you and then the staff rates it. Anything rated above three out of 10 will then be in the magazine at the end of the year. It’s not really a magazine, it’s kind of a book at the end of the year of everyone’s art.”

What is your positon on the Freelancer?

“Freelancer is more like, if you’re into art, you can join it and do whatever. There’s a lot of writers also in the program. My position basically is rating people’s art. The Freelancer editors put art up on the screen and then you raise your hand and vote on what you think it should be rated.”

What does art mean to you, since you are so involved with it?

“Art has always just been a thing that comes easy to me and that meant a lot cause I wasn’t the best at very much in school. I think for me, art is more of a free time thing that I do to keep a straight mind.” 

What made you get into art?

“Art has always been something that has come naturally to me in so many ways like drawing and dancing. In elementary school, I struggled in everything but art and that was something that brought me joy and I think it just stuck and I’ve never let it go since then.”

What is your favorite style of art?

“My favorite style of art is called thermal drawing. You take a picture then turn up the filter called heat thermal on your Macbook and I then draw the picture but in those colors. I started doing this recently but it quickly became my favorite because of how simple it is but how good it ends up looking everytime.”

Is drawing the only type of art that you do?

“No, I also do dance which I equally love just as much. I feel like it does the same thing for me as drawing. There’s just something about the way art can calm you down and take your mind off of the things going on in your life.”

How long does each of your pieces take?

“The thermal pieces really do not take that long but some other pieces take multiple hours but art to me is like starting a book and not liking it at first, then you get so into it you can’t stop doing it.”

Will art be something that you incorporate in your life beyond high school?

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“Yes, I will never let art go no matter where I am or what my career is ‘cause I think, overall, it makes me a more happy person.”