Spotlight on the Arts: Kaylee Warta

“Spotlight on the Arts” by The Paradise Center honors and encourages students in the arts by highlighting their talent and acknowledging the support they receive through their schools and teachers.

Plains student Kaylee Warta is an artist with a variety of talents that range from drawing to jewelry making. She is fortunate to have parents who are artistic and encourage her.

Her father attended the Art Institute of Phoenix for four years, so his encouragement has been very important. She also makes use of technology to learn about artists, their mediums, and techniques. She began her artistic work at around 9 years of age. Now at age 14, she continues to expand her skills in Mrs. Cole’s art classes.

Warta mostly uses graphite pencil but occasionally likes to use paint or colored pencils. While she prefers graphite, because she does not have to worry about “getting the right color” for her subject matter, she finds painting a new and different way of expressing herself.

Outside her time in art class, she spends more than an hour drawing every day. Her preferred place to draw is sitting on her bed, scrolling through Pinterest for inspiration. And she likes to listen to a variety of music while doing her art, including Will Wood, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Foresight, The Front Bottoms, TV Girl, The Cure, as well as video game playlists.

Although she does not have a favorite piece of her own artwork, Mrs. Cole notes that Warta’s artistic talents are reflected in her fashion choices. The sure sign of an artist is that their art permeates everything they do.

Warta likes the work of Jack Stauber - a musician, singer-songwriter, designer, animator, and internet personality. His versatility in the arts reflects the many ways creativity can appear in one person.

She acknowledges that getting started with art may be difficult for a beginner, but she feels it is worth the effort.

As for herself, she wants to explore three-dimensional art, such as sculpting. She thinks a future might be interesting if she had her own small business where she could sell prints, shirts and pins showing her art. But she does not limit herself there. She thinks she might like to explore special effect (sfx) makeup for video or film.