It is thought that everyone is born with a ‘God-given talent’- something that makes them unique; something they were born to do. Many spend their whole lives in search of this talent, but very few manage to come across it early on. Among these few is senior Abigail Starkey, whose creative artistic abilities blossomed at a young age.

Starkey stumbled into drawing in the 7th grade, and the hobby stuck. “I got into my art because of a friend. She liked to draw, and so I kind of tagged along and started to draw, too,” she says.

She carried the passion into high school and started taking art classes. “I really like it because it’s a way to express yourself that you can’t really do in any other way,” she says.

Art teacher Lorena DeCristofaro has been teaching Starkey for the past three years and has watched her talent develop.

“She’s definitely grown and matured in her quality, and her shading and drawing and painting skills,” says DeCristofaro.

Starkey agrees her abilities have improved over the years because of what she has learned in the class.

“It helped me learn more techniques that I could apply to my artwork that I didn’t know before, when I was just self-teaching myself,” she explains.

DeCristofaro mentions that Starkey’s creative gift is different than any other, and very unique. “She has developed her own personal style, which is really hard to achieve at this age,” she says. ‘Her artwork is totally her own. That’s what makes it different.”

“I like to draw people,” says Starkey in reference to her style. DeCristofaro describes Starkey’s strange artistry as “very much like her. Subtle, soft, very feminine, kind of intriguing, maybe a little dark, but sweet at the same time.”

She will continue to pursue art after she graduates, but plans to channel it into something different: graphic design. “First, I’m going to community college and then after that, I want to try to get a degree in graphic design,” she explains.

Graphic design teacher Caryn Butler describes how Starkey has crafted her unique style of art into graphic design over the last two years in the class. “She has learned to combine that artistry with the principles of graphic design to create innovative and aesthetically pleasing layouts that communicate a message visually,” she says.

Though she is unsure what type of graphic design she wants to create, Butler believes her talent gives her many options. “I can see her in the advertising industry doing print ads or web design. She could also be an illustrator,” she says.
Regardless of what Starkey decides to pursue, many agree her artistic abilities will allow her to excel. Even at such a young age, many would say that Starkey has found her undeniable gift.