Many students at our school are artistically inclined, but one student has made herself stand out.

Senior Ari Harrington has been recognized as one of the most promising artists at our school by teachers and students. Harrington’s work stands out from other students due to her unique style, which features many abstract elements.

“If you take a look at a bunch of her different pieces, you can tell that she did it,” senior Audrie Bruce said. “She does a lot of faces, a lot of portraiture.”

Her art is widely considered as some of the best in the school, but she hasn’t always been a great artist.

“I used to draw cats, like I used to draw little animals when I was little. I was really bad at drawing when I was a kid,” Harrington said.

Harrington revisited art her freshman year and continued improving, thinking that she could become a skilled artist.

Visual Arts Teacher Theodore Gasper is especially impressed by Harrington’s work.

“What stands out about the work Ari has been producing for the last couple years, specifically, is her style and strong realism in her portraiture,” Gasper said. “Her style makes her work unmistakably hers.”

Senior Paige Antonelli has also became a fan of Harrington’s work due to her distinctive style.

“Ari’s work has a unique quality that incorporates regular people in a sort of morbid aspect. This is pretty different from the style of most artists,” Antonelli said.

Among other things, Harrington has painted other students at our school.

“My favorite piece that she has done was one of our friend, Garrett. It was huge with a misty black background that made Garrett look like a skeleton and then she added little poison dart frogs so that they were sitting on his shoulders,” Antonelli said. “The content in that piece absolutely blew me away.”

Harrington’s style has even made an impression off her fellow art students.

“I did a piece of art over the summer, and then when I came back and looked at some of her art, I realized that I had subconsciously used her style in my work,” Bruce said.

Aside from her unique style, Harrington’s work also shows off her strong technical skill.

“I know she has earned her style and artistic skills through intense self-motivated practice. She fills up sketchbooks quickly, is passionate and persistent about her work, and brings in new, complete pieces she’s worked on outside of school quite regularly,” Gasper said.

Harrington hopes to improve on the realism of her work and becoming more creative.

“I know Ari’s work inspires her classmates,” Gasper said. “It is extremely technique-heavy, and people tend to be impressed by what they can’t quite pull off themselves. I am also personally inspired by her work.”