Senior Art Exhibit: Nikki Barto

Art has always been something special and dear to my heart. I would work on making pieces or drawing to cope with depression and anxiety. With my work, I want to show others that might be in my situation that something beautiful can come out of it. The pieces that I have been working on recently in sculpture have had very deep connections to me as a child and growing adult. These pieces show ballerinas and dancers which as a child I participated in for a bit. As a preteen, I did not want anything to do with “girly” things, such as dancing, because I thought that it was too ‘soft’ or too normal for girls, and I wanted to go against it. I realized recently that I still have this love for dance, and I don’t see anything as too girly because it is just clothes, it doesn’t mean anything, I can still be myself. While growing as a person I was also growing as an artist. Eventually, pieces of art that I would keep to myself made it to the public eye, and that was when I really decided that I would go to school for art. I decided to make ballet dancers out of metal and express emotions through photos to show sides of me that I find beautiful to show the public. Being able to express myself through art helps me so much today and I hope I can show others that they can do it as well. My bright-colored hair might help with that as well.