The concept of art is widespread, undefined, and infinite, and sophomore YueTong Tsen has managed to explore this indefinite concept by creating several beautiful works of art throughout her high-school career. Tsen’s curiosity blossomed when she started drawing at the age of three, encouraged by her mother’s desperation to keep the young girl quiet and occupied.

The love she had for art as a toddler only grew, and Tsen began to take drawing classes at the community center when she was an elementary school student. She kept her love for art fostered throughout the years and currently, she is part of the Introduction to Art class at Wilcox. As an art student, she began to explore different art styles and techniques, Tsen’s art evolved far beyond the traditional drawing and painting. Although she occasionally enjoys the two, she usually expresses herself though nail art. She explains that her favorite mediums are nail polish and acrylic paint, as they add a splash of color to all kinds of different projects.

Tsen explains that her “favorite thing about art is that you could bring your imagination into the physical world.” She manages to externalize her mind through her art in countless different ways, each as extraordinary as the other. Still, she tries to find better ways in which to convey her ideas. She articulates, “Improvement is the aspect of art that I value most because there is no limit to how much you can expand your abilities.” As Tsen continuously tries to find ways to improve her art, her style has matured greatly over the years. Rather than mimicking the style of other artists, Tsen has managed to adopt her own “ridiculous and unique” style, which is something every artist dreams of doing.

One example of Tsen’s unequaled art style is the three dimensional toadstool nail art design that she managed to execute perfectly. She explains that although it was “weird and totally useless for daily wear,” it still was her favorite project because of how impressive the final result was.

Nail art might be her forte, but Tsen is talented with countless other art forms as well. She explains that every year, as the Vans Shoe Design Contest arrives, she begins to dabble with three dimensional art with the use of clay or paper mache. In this contest, schools compete for the best shoe designs under the categories of music, art, sports, and local flavor. The shoes are supposed to reflect the artist’s take on one of the given categories and do not have to be wearable. “Last year, I created a pair of shoes based on classical music,” she exclaims. This pair of shoes, along with all the others pairs created by other contestants from Wilcox, are displayed on campus on the second floor of the B-Building. “Hopefully,” Tsen says, “our school can win the Vans Shoe Design Contest this year.”

Tsen’s passion for several different art styles will only help her in her dream of becoming an animator or mixed media artist. She explains that she definitely wants to pursue a career path in this field because art makes her happy.

Nevertheless, as talented as she may be, art slumps are common for even the best of artists. Tsen explains that every time she suffers from an art block, she looks towards Instagram for inspiration. She advises aspiring artists that rather than letting oneself fall further into a slump, taking their mind off work for a while by doing random things may help them regain some inspiration. After all, stress and frustration over perfecting a work of art will not make it any better.

Her best advice for artists, however, is that “practice is key.” But in the long run, a passion for art is also crucial, and Tsen’s passion and motivation greatly reflects in her work.