In this day and age, when it can seem increasingly difficult to connect on a personal level both with the media we create and consume, some rare creative souls are taking matters into their own hands.

  Senior Rachel Miller, April’s Artist of the Month, is one such soul – according to art teacher Wesley Myers, Miller’s perspective brings something refreshing and new to the table.

  “A lot of times, students are inspired by … celebrities, and she, at least some of her stronger pieces, have been about her grandfather and her father,” Myers said. “She’s bringing in a lot of more personal stuff … you can’t get any more of a motivating factor than something like family.”

  Miller, who has been enrolled in both traditional and electronic art classes since the beginning of her high school career, insists that this personal affinity for art comes from those closest to her.

  “My mom … was a graphic designer in her ‘20s and now she’s an art teacher, and she kind of always just encouraged me to draw and had me draw stuff … to compare me to her students when I was little,” said Miller. “[Mollie Larum and I] used to ride the bus together…and we didn’t know we both liked art…and then when we both got to high school, she was…awesome … she’s going to school for art now, and she came back and she … saw one of my things on the wall, and she was like, ‘Oh my god! Rachel’s so good!’”

  Miller’s artistic journey didn’t go unnoticed by her peers and mentors – photography and electronic arts teacher Wade Bowers commends Miller on the hard work she’s put into reaching her creative goals.

  “… Now that she has the basics out of the way, I think she’s really just starting to kind of explore things that would represent her … I think Rachel has really started to, in her senior year, take the path of this real clean, colorful style. Oftentimes the colors are somewhat pastel in nature,” Bowers said. “Rachel just works really hard at what she’s doing. I think she just really plans and thinks, not only through her design, but [also] … does a lot of pre-planning that kind of helps her see what she wants by the end of the project or product, so I think she’s … really taken on that concept of being a designer … ”

  Myers adds that Miller’s artistic process has also matured throughout the years, becoming less rigid and more flexible in certain circumstances.

  “Her strongest stuff is now, in terms of her willingness to kinda be creative with materials and just kinda  jump ship,” said Myers. “…If something’s not working well with materials, she’s quick now to kind of go off and try something new to cover up rather than continue to be frustrated with something. She’s finding new solutions … her skill set [is strong] in terms of making things look just rendered well and look realistic …”

  Through her past projects, Miller has expanded her renown both in and out of the classroom: along with fellow senior Dan Pergrin and junior Stevie King, Miller helped to create a winter-themed painting that won a prize at Miller Plant Farm in December of 2015, a project that senior Michella Salvitti greatly admires.

  “It was a beautiful landscape of this log cabin, and the texture of the snow and the leaves was beautiful,” Salvitti said. “It was really realistic.”

  Though Miller is heavily involved with sports and academics in addition to her art, Myers observes that she somehow fully dedicates herself to each passion.

  “I feel like she, like a lot of students … just enjoys being in here and then when you’ve really got to put the axe to grindstone, she will commit the time, even though she’s busy with other things,” said Myers. “… She’ll … take stuff home, she’ll come in during homeroom, she’ll stay after school, and sometimes art just takes time, and she’s putting in the time.”

  This extreme level of commitment was one of Miller’s impressive qualities that lead Bowers to name her Artist of the Month.

  “I felt like she’s one of the seniors that has a portfolio to show,” Bowers said. “I think people know and understand that she is always in art courses, but maybe don’t get to see a collection of her work as a whole, so I think even prior to the Arts Fair it was good to kind of allow people to see what she’s capable of and what she’s accomplished.”

  As for what one can expect from one of Miller’s pieces, Salvitti insists that her friend’s  art comes from a one-of-a-kind point of view.

  “[Miller is inspired by] the odd things … the very small parts of a person or of scenery that you wouldn’t normally notice,” said Salvitti. “… She kind of takes it, outlines it and really … makes it her own and adds either bright or dark tone to it and kind of adds an artistic twist.”

 Though her senior year is coming to a close, there’s no stopping the flow of Miller’s work – she has plans lined up for both the coming weeks and years ahead.

  “[I’m drawing a] a vector portrait, that’s for Electronic Arts II, and in my two art classes I’m doing an oil painting portrait, and then in Drawing I’m doing a transformation. I haven’t really figured out what it is yet, but it’s like a M.C. Escher project, and I’m also working on getting the Art Fair stuff together,” Miller said. “I’m going to college at St. Bonaventure [University] in New York, and I haven’t really figured out my major yet, but I’m definitely going to minor in art, I think, because I want to be able to incorporate art into my future careers.”

  Whatever Miller ends up focusing on in the future, there’s one thing that will undoubtedly remain constant: her insatiable desire to be the best that she can be at whatever she sets her mind to, in art or in life.