by Siobhan Richards
Freshman Caroline Clouter is the triple threat; she’s an artist, writer, and musician rolled into one.
Clouter has always been involved in art. Ever since she was little she has been attracted to drawing.
“I feel like drawing was something every little kid did. Your parents urge you to draw, and I sort of picked up on it,” said Clouter.
Most of the inspiration from her drawings now come from social media.
“I see a lot of stuff on social media like Tumblr and art pages that I want to try. I thought, ‘If they can do it, I can too.’ So now I just try everything,” she said.
Clouter has an Instagram account where many of her drawings are posted.
“The main reason for posting them,” said Clouter, “was I wanted to get feedback.”
Originally she did not expect anyone to take note of them. Instead she received a large amount of compliments and positive feedback.
“People really appreciated what I was doing,” she said.
Clouter mostly draws in a creative style called Zentangle, which is patterns that form a bigger picture.
Drawing is not her only artistic skill. She enjoys painting, water colors, and sketching.
Clouter took an art class over the summer last year that focused on art with charcoal.
“It was different,” she said, “because it was something I’ve never done before. It was nice to get some exposure to different art perspectives.”
Clouter has made many different drawings, but her favorite one was of the Zentangle style.
“It was a full canvas of just Zentangle, and it took me a while but it ended up looking really nice. That’s probably my favorite. I actually gave it to my aunt as a wedding present. She had wanted some artwork from me for a while,” said Clouter.
Her artwork is very unique and creative. There are many details in the pieces that make them look so intricate and extraordinary.
On average Clouter can spend anywhere from one to five hours drawing.
“The whole process of it is really enjoyable for me because it is slow, and I can really focus on one thing at a time,” says Clouter. “It’s kind of like a puzzle. You do each small thing, and they fit together to make a big picture that just looks really cool.”
She is also passionate about writing. This year she took creative writing with Carol Hobbs.
Clouter is doing well and really enjoying the class this semester.
“Writing is a really good way to get expression and feelings out and onto paper. With writing, it’s all based on what happens to me, so if something traumatic happens, I’ll write about that,” said Clouter.
Hobbs also thinks Caroline’s pieces embody many different feelings.
“Caroline is a strong writer,” said Hobbs. “She is in ninth grade and already has the power to instill real emotion through her writing.”
Both Clouter and Hobbs liked Caroline’s Robert Frost-inspired piece.
Clouter chose to use Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” to write her poem.
“It’s one of my favorite poems, and it was really cool to write my own poem influenced by it.”
This was also the poem she chose to read at the literary reading for the Art Show.
Clouter was very proud of this piece and liked how it sounded when she read it.
“I don’t really like reading in front of people. I’m very shy when it comes to speaking in front of an audience,” Clouter said. “But I thought I’d try something new.”
In addition to reading her work, she entered her writing in the HHS Scribbler Contest. She received an honorable mention for her piece.
“I am hoping she will enter writing in competitions in the coming year, namely the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards” said Hobbs.
Clouter will have plenty of work to enter and even more in the future.
“I really liked creative writing this year, so I signed up for Creative Writing 2 next year. I’m also interested in getting in more classes outside of school,” she said.
Besides art and writing Clouter also loves music.
She started band in fourth grade and has done it ever since. She plays the clarinet.
On her own she has learned to play the guitar.
“I started playing guitar about four years ago, and I definitely like the guitar better than the clarinet,” says Clouter. “On guitar you can kind of do anything.”
She has an acoustic guitar and is constantly looking up new songs to learn.
“As a musician any time I learn a new song I feel accomplished,” she said.
Over the summer Clouter and her family are traveling to Hungary, Budapest, France, and Transylvania. Along the way she may find new inspiration to help her advance all of her artistic abilities.
