After months of working on her art piece, senior Zoey Hebert’s “Why I Use My Voice This Way” was selected by the Texas Art Education Association to be showcased at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin during Youth Art Month (YAM) in March. Her artwork will later be moved to the State Capitol.
YAM brings awareness to the arts and the importance of it in education. Only one student from each school was allowed to submit a piece, and art teacher Mrs. Natalie Jones gave the opportunity to Hebert to compete.
“I felt honored because out of all the other AP art students, she picked one of my works,” Hebert said. “I didn’t really know it was kind of a process of elimination type thing. I thought it was just going to be shown somewhere, and then it would be over with.”
Hebert was one of the less than 200 students whose artwork got accepted, and she is one of the two students in Comal ISD to be selected and will be representing the school.
“We’re just incredibly proud of her for all the work, time, effort and growth she’s put into her art, and it’s always cool to have any of our students representing us on a much bigger scale,” Associate Principal Mr. Daniel Horton said.
Hebert used color pencils and markers alongside other art mediums. She worked tirelessly on the piece during art class, in other classes and at home, and it took her more than a year to complete.
“She’s really grown into this amazing artist,” Jones said. “She has a style of her own, and she has her own expectations and works really hard on those expectations that she has on herself, and it shows through her art.”
Hebert hopes her artwork and passion for art can help inspire others to express themselves through art.
“People are going to eventually see the art that you make,” Hebert said. “Ask yourself in your life what kind of things you want to create, what kind of message do you want to send to other people and what kind of thing you want to put out there because you are creating something, and what you create is now in the world. Just do what you want to do, do it to the best of your abilities and don’t be too critical of yourself.”
