Super Kid: Nick Buell, senior, Marysville Pilchuck High School

Published 8:19 pm Sunday, October 13, 2013

Question: When did you get interested in art?

Answer: I’d say in the third grade was when I started … We had a project for our class, an anti-drug project, and we all had to make a drawing for it. The better ones went here (to MPHS), into an art show and mine got put into that group. I did a skateboarding drawing.

Q: What are your mediums?

A: Charcoal’s my favorite to use, but I’ve used all kinds of things.

Q: Your style is very realistic, like you’re able to reproduce things and people with great accuracy. Did that come naturally to you?

A: I think so, yeah.

Q: Did you start taking art classes in middle school?

A: Yes, that was my favorite class, I took that one every semester. Once I got to high school it was a serious thing for me.

Q: I assume you get A’s in art.

A: Yeah.

Q: Are you able to keep up in your other classes even though they may not be where your primary interest lies?

A: Yeah, I guess I excel more in art than other classes, but I still have about a 3.0 average.

Q: What’s your best subject other than art?

A: Probably English.

Q: Do have any other activities outside school?

A: I like skateboarding a lot.

Q: Have you won any awards for your art?

A: There’s a scholastic art show in Everett at the Schack Art Center, our teacher tells us about it every year and then we just send in a few drawings and can win a gold key, a silver key or an honorable mention. I’ve won a few of those the last two years. I think I’ve sent in eight total, I think about half of them are golds and the others are silvers. If you get the top drawing you get to send them into a New York gallery, but I haven’t gotten that far.

Q: Do you have a favorite piece that you’ve done?

A: Probably a drawing I did of my girlfriend (from a photograph at Mission Beach at Tulalip). I drew it for her birthday.

Q: Do you have college plans?

A: I’m planning to go to art school. I haven’t decided which one yet. I’ve kind of been kind of looking in California and there’s one in Maryland I’ve been checking out. I get a lot of recommendations from my art teacher, so that helps a lot.

Q: Tell me about your art teacher here, Karen Epperson.

A: She’s a great teacher, she’s always helped me with a lot of things in art. You’re supposed to go through Art 1, 2, 3 and 4 and then into AP (advanced placement) art, but I just took 1 and 2 and she moved me into AP. This is my third year in AP art.

Q: Have you done any special studies in art?

A: This summer I attended college-type classes (through the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colo.) It was kind of a scholarship thing, it was only for juniors, Mrs. Epperson told me about it when I was a sophomore. It was kind of like a contest, you send in a portfolio and people all over the world apply and only 60 get chosen. There are three two-week seminars, with 20 people in each one. It gives us experience in what college is like in art, we took some drawing and painting classes. It’s a good thing to have on your record, it gives you a lot of scholarship opportunities, a lot of art schools know about it.

I did a portrait of Tupac (Shakur), of all hands and feet. We had to do a drawing with 20 hands and 20 feet, I think I put in 30 hands and 45 feet.

Q: I assume you want to make a living in art.

A: Yes. A lot of people have things they’re good at but they don’t really like to do it. It’s different for me, I like to do it.