NC sophomore Sofia Levy began creating art at the beginning of her middle school years in 2020. Levy spent her entire 6th-grade year attending online school, which led her to explore the Internet. Throughout this, she found different styles and techniques on social media that she later attributed to her own art pieces.
However, Levy’s love for art began long before the COVID-19 pandemic, as she attended Baker Elementary School art classes and grew a fondness for art and creation. During that time period, she watched art YouTuber Moriah Elizabeth’s videos, exposing herself to art outside of class hours. In addition, Levy’s brother inspired her as a strong and impactful figure, as she often watched him draw. Other than her brother, Levy remains the only artist in her family.
Beginning her high school journey, she attended NC’s Ceramics classes. After thoroughly enjoying the class, Levy joined the Photography and print-making class, creating her favorite works. Currently, Levy attends NC’s Drawing and painting class and frequents the National Art Honors Society (NAHS), exploring her artistic passions after school, where she presents her art at the club’s gallery nights. Throughout her club membership, Levy earned the status of secretary as one of the club’s officers.
“I think her art style is really cute, it has a lot of pastels. When she does facial features, she likes to make them really cute, like button eyes and long lashes. I like the dimensions she uses. I know there was one art piece, she drew a shirt, and it looked really three-dimensional (3-D), so I thought that was really cool,” magnet sophomore Carrington Dobbs said.
Her art style consists of bright colors, exaggerated features and bubbly lettering; she enjoys drawing cartoon-ish characters with eccentric eyes. To create these art projects, Levy uses mixed media through marker, graphite, digital art, watercolor paint and line art, sometimes collaborating with her friends to produce a piece. She also enjoys learning to crochet, sew clothes, take photos and listen to music, but focuses predominantly on art. However, throughout her artistic journey, she has experienced struggles such as art block and burnout. To combat these issues, Levy has committed to art throughout her life, developing her style and motivating herself to create art even without a specific goal or deadline.
“I have struggled with my art journey, I struggled to find my art style, especially because of social media calling things not real art. I do not always have the motivation to work on my art sometimes, but I do feel like that is just a part of the artistic process and sometimes it happens just because I’m being lazy. The advice I would give to someone having a hard time making art is to just let it grow and let it flow and be yourself,” Levy said.
Levy also enjoys posting her artwork online to Instagram, hoping to gain popularity on social media. As she continues her social media journey throughout high school, she dreams of potentially landing the job of an art influencer, where she could post vlogs and YouTube videos. Levy’s dream art project would involve painting a mural at a school to show off her pieces and work in her community, since she believes that art can strongly impact the world.
Her junior year, she plans to complete Drawing and Painting II and Applied Design I and II. Additionally, she plans to continue attending NAHS and earn the status of President of the club. After graduating from high school, Levy remains unsure of her major, but she leans toward studying psychology and selling her artwork for a minor profit.
