Anybody who has encountered senior Abby Fitts, whether in passing or as a close friend, knows that she’s creative in many ways. She’s imaginative in her methods of making people smile, in her jokes and in her passion for making art. Throughout all aspects of her life, Abby is creating a more colorful world around her.
She mostly practices traditional styles of art but is starting to dabble in the world of colored pencils and pen. Her interest in art has been a source of self-growth, along with other hobbies such as researching religions and long-distance running.
Throughout Abby’s art ventures, her family members have been very supportive, each in their own way. Her parents will buy her art supplies, give helpful feedback and praise her work. Her father, especially, celebrates her art.
“My dad sometimes makes my art his lock screen, which is kind of embarrassing but so nice,” she laughed.
Abby took Advanced Placement (AP) Art last year and enjoyed the class. Having time to learn new techniques and refine her skills was beneficial for the development of her work. Her portfolio focused on the approval and validation she’d receive from her peers, and how others’ perceptions of her negatively affect who she is, which her dad especially liked.
“Her AP Art project last year was phenomenal. I loved the whole perspective of who she was as a person,” Abby’s father Daryl Fitts said.
As Abby talks about the support she receives from her family, it is clear that she is incredibly grateful and feels encouraged to experiment and grow with her artistic endeavours. One of the people who helped her when she was just getting started was her uncle, who is a professional artist. Years ago, he sat down with her and taught her the basics.
“It’s a really cool experience sitting down with [my] uncle, and he’s showing me tips and tricks, and I still think about those sometimes,” she said.
Her friends also support Abby and see the benefits she receives from practicing art. Abby Grams, Abby’s friend of over seven years, described the impact art has had on Abby.
“I think [art] has had a good impact [on her] mental health and keeping busy,” Grams said. “She’s met a lot of new people and found out more about herself.”
By dedicating so much time to creating art, Abby encounters many struggles throughout the process. One of the most poignant struggles is her tendency to be self-critical.
“Something I need to work on is dealing with the stress of not liking what [I’m] doing better,” she said. “Even though a stranger might look at [my art] and go, ‘Oh! I think that looks amazing and really cool,’ [I’m] like, ‘This is the worst thing I’ve ever made! I’ve never made anything worse than this in my life!’”
Although this process is stressful for her, she’s learned to step back and realize that it’s not always that serious.
“The whole point of art is to have fun with it and express yourself, so why am I sitting here hating everything I’m making? It’s so dumb,” she said. “I’ve learned to either set it aside and move on to the next day or realize maybe it’s not actually that bad.”
Despite the frustration that can come from practicing art, Abby also reaps many benefits for her mental health. “Art has been a fantastic way for me to show my emotions or my feelings,” she said. “It’s like a diary but more expressive. In a diary, you’re limited to words, whereas with art, you can just do whatever you want.”
Abby has composed many portraits, varying from pets to peers, based on commission from others, but self-portraits, specifically, are a good way for her to process her emotions. By painting herself, she’s able to project her emotions onto a canvas and physically see what she’s feeling.
She plans to keep art as a positive outlet in the future by not majoring in the subject when she attends college. Although she wants to learn more about art techniques and history, she wants to keep it as a hobby. One of her other hobbies is researching philosophy and religion, which she started doing earlier this year. She has enjoyed learning more about her faith and beliefs.
“For the first time in my life, I actually feel like I have opinions and beliefs that I can stand towards,” she said.
Abby’s father has supported her as she has developed her recent interests. He admires that she has done her own research into not just her religion but also other religions.
“[She has] come to her own determination of what she thought was best for her, which I think is very powerful in developing her identity,” Darryl Fitts said.
Abby also enjoys long-distance running and is a member of Kaneland’s cross country and track and field teams. She believes that getting outside and doing physical activity is incredibly important for people’s mental and physical health. Like art, running is a good stress reliever for her.
“Going out there on a nice, peaceful, long run? Are you kidding?” she said, laughing. “You’re just out there, exerting energy, and you’re with your thoughts, and maybe you even have nice music in? It can be so nice.”
Another benefit of running is her friendships with the other girls on the cross country team, whom she’s gotten closer to lately. She often jokes around with the team, which is another key characteristic of her personality that other people love about her.
“I love making people laugh so much,” she said. “That’s one of my favorite things to do.”
Whether she is joking around with her friends or painting a self-portrait, Abby is creating a more vivid life around her, and for now, Abby has no plans of stopping her artistic endeavors.
“I would love to be someone who continues this for the rest of my life,” she said.
