Arts Student of the Week Hannah Geiling

Although she has experimented with many artistic mediums, including painting, drawing with graphite and pen and ink, ceramics, and multimedia sculptures, Niwot High School senior Hannah Geiling most enjoys working with Prismacolor pencils.

"I enjoy the slow nature of the medium that calls for lots of layering and blending," Geiling said. "And overall, just really getting to play with color theory."

Geiling takes influence from artists in pop culture, especially musical artists such as Melanie Martinez. According to her art teacher, Beth Collier, who selected Geiling as Arts Student of the Week, "Hannah is a very driven and creative soul."

Collier has had ample opportunity to observe Geiling's budding talent. "It has been so very rewarding to watch her grow and mature, both as a person and an artist," Collier said. "I think she has been in one or more of our art classes every semester of her high school career."

"I will miss her greatly, as she is a graduating senior. She is dedicated and so very hardworking. I look forward to the things she will do next with all this creativity and ambition."

Over the course of her studies in high school, Geiling has had the opportunity to take higher level classes and improve her skills, and she began to see the potential of considering art as a serious career path. "I am so grateful for my experience as an art student at Niwot," she said. "There is a class for almost any form of art, from basic drawing to jewelry to fashion design. I feel the art teachers are so passionate about their jobs and love encouraging creativity, however you choose to express it. They're also very knowledgeable, and I feel like I learn more and improve more in one class period than I did my whole life before high school."

Her passion for art has given Geiling the strength that she has needed to take life on, and in return, she feels that she owes her life to art. "I am forever in debt to art and all of the people who helped me get to the point I'm at," Geiling said, "so I want to dedicate the rest of my life to creating."

"My experience at Niwot was a bit tumultuous, to be truthful," Geiling confessed. "I had some really hard times and some really great times." But overall, she believes that her experience at NHS has helped her become a stronger, more capable person. "And for that I'm thankful," she added.

When she is not creating art, Geiling enjoys spending time with her friends. She is also interested in makeup and fashion, and she enjoys watching "bad reality television."

"Right now, my plans are kind of up in the air, but the goal is to get to art school to major in illustration," she said. "It might not happen by next year but, if not, I still plan on doing community college or something to continue my education."