Heitkamp, who wants to become an art teacher, employs her artistic gifts in a variety of ways beyond just her found-object peices.

 Here is a gallery of a mere portion of her work.

What started out as just an assignment to her eventually developed into a hobby, and now a business.

Henning was the historian of the Drama Club, and her job was to document the memories from the shows.

One show night, Henning and asked her friend to try on one of the elaborate costumes, and she started to take pictures with just a standard digital camera.

Henning did not have any formal training. She just posted the pictures on Facebook.

“I may not know all the technical parts of photography but I want to learn as much as I can,” she said.

After her friends saw her pictures on Facebook, they told her she should get into professional photography. On the weekends, Henning would do photo shoots with her friends, but since it started to become time consuming, she turned it into a business.

“I was a bit hesitant on charging people because they were my friends, but they had no troubles with it because I was giving them quality pictures,” she said.

For the most part, Henning photographs portraits, however sometimes she does environmental shots or close ups of miscellaneous objects.

“Portraits capture not only the person, but also their emotions and who they are, I can see something about the subject that he or she doesn’t,” she said.  

Even though her photography has turned into a business, it still remains as a passion to her.

 “When I look through the lens I can see something more to the person than whats actually there. I have total control over the picture, one simple change can make a huge difference,” said Henning.

“Laynie’s work is brilliant. Her personality makes her wonderful to work with, and her ideas are amazing. Her passion is incredible. I recommend her to anyone, of any age and of any personality,” said senior Swati Sankar on http://ahenningphotography.webs.com. 

Whenever given free time, Maddie Murphy never hesitates to cover every nearby paper object with multiple of her signature sketches.

Doodling is an easy and enjoyable pastime for Murphy, and a great way to unload all unwanted tension.

“It’s just fun. It takes my mind off the stress of life,” she said.

Murphy’s doodles are not just mindless scribbles, but spontaneous masterpieces. Extreme detail and shading are put into all of her pictures.

Many of Murphy’s doodles include reoccurring subjects. Her most frequently drawn subjects are eyes.

“I like eyes. No two are ever really exactly the same. There are just a lot of different types,” she said. Murphy’s notebooks are overflowing with hundreds of eye sketches, yet each eye is unique.

 Murphy has received much praise for her drawings from classmates over the years.

“I’ve been interested in art since I was in preschool. People said I was good, and I really liked it, so I kept going,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”

AP Art Studio student Charlie Zimmerman said, “AP Art Studio I students show the work they made this year, and AP Art Studio II kids get to show work from the past two years.”

The artwork varies from paintings to sculptures and drawings, and each student’s work has a central theme or focus.

“My concentration, which is a topic that you base several pieces around, was animals last year and is musicians this year. I am excited to show all my pieces of students at LHS playing their instruments,” Zimmerman said.

He added, “I did them all in different mediums, like oil, acrylic, water color, and photography.”

While the show is a chance for students to off their art, they also get graded on their performance.

“[AP Art Studio teacher Pam] Senti grades on our participation as well as the setup of our art,” Zimmerman said.

In order to maximize the number of people viewing the art, the show is always the same day as the final choir concert and choir banquet. Choir students and parents can view the art and talk to the artists on their way into the banquet.

Overall, the show is an opportunity for students to show off the hard work that they have done all year, both in and out of school. Zimmerman said, “It’s kind of awesome. It’s a really great experience for everyone involved.”

Typically when guys wear accessories, they usually include hemp necklaces, hats and an occasional earring.

However, junior Kyle Witzig’s style is a little more creative. He started making and wearing cuffs made of cereal boxes.

“I don’t really know how it started,” Witzig explained. ”It just kind of did one morning when after eating my cereal I just put the box on my wrist and put tape on it and colored it.”

To make them Witzig said, “I rip the tabs off and put tape over the sides and along the bottom the draw in the rest and try and make it look as best as possible.”

Witzig’s cuffs have gained notice and attention from fellow classmates.

“I have already sold one for a few bucks,” he said. “I would be interested in selling more.”

Noodles, of course.

The Pasta House Restaurant recently held a contest that asked student artists to select a famous painting and somehow incorporate pizza, pasta or the restaurant’s logo into an appropriation of the piece.

Lafayette senior Charlie Zimmerman entered the competition with a rendering of Franciso Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Children.”

In Zimmerman’s version, the blood-hungry Saturn instead snacks on spaghetti noodles.

“I looked through the AP Art History textbook for inspiration. I’ve always liked Goya’s piece and I figured that it would be really funny and perfect when I saw Saturn eating,” Zimmerman said.

His piece was painted with acrylic and completed during the art classes Zimmerman takes during the day.

Although he didn’t place in the competition, Zimmerman went to the St. Louis Science Center to view the winning pieces.

“I liked the winning pieces,” he said. “They were very good.”

For a list of winners, see http://www.pastahouse.com/news/index.html .

“I like all kinds of artwork. If I had to pick on I would probably pick drawing and painting unless doodling is a category,” Moll said.

Moll is currently a part of the Chesterfield Arts and Mural Program. In Chesterfield, groups of students around the St. Louis area are painting a mural in the valley off of Edison Road.

“The purpose of the mural is to describe how time has changed. How beauty can brighten the darkest of the past,” said Moll.

So far in the mural process, there is a logo written on the wall. Production begins in June and all are welcome to participate.

The whole mural is expected to take a couple of hours depending on the number of participants. There have been meetings since September including a lot of time and dedication going into the product.

“My hope is that when people are driving around in the valley, they will see something to look at instead of dirt and ‘boringness,’” said Moll.

“I have been drawing since before I can remember and learned my drawing skills from my mom,” Judlin said. “[My mom] is artistic and inspirational and gave me my drawing gift.”

Lately Judlin has had several friends ask her to design their future tattoos for them. Junior Lindsey Mansker requested Judlin to design her a tattoo because she trusts her.

“Jenna is someone who you can always rely on and I know she would design a tattoo that would symbolize everything I wanted and would also look really cool,” Mansker said.

“It’s a dream and an honor to have my art work on someone else’s body!” Judlin said.

Judlin doesn’t simply draw what she thinks her friends would want, yet designs the tattoos by putting herself in their situation.

“Whatever tattoo I draw, it always takes on a deeper meaning,” Judlin said. “It’s just not a picture, it’s a story and there is always a story behind everything.”

Recently Judlin was offered a job from Six Flags to do henna and airbrush tattoos and the idea thrilled her.

“Drawing stimulates my mind and takes me away from all my stresses in life, so it will be awesome to have a job where I can be care free and doing something I love,” Judlin said.

“What I like most about this painting is that the surface is a recycled table top,” Zanzie said.

This painting is part of a type of art she calls practical art. 

“I haven’t actually put legs on the table yet, but I do intend for it to be a fully functioning piece of furniture,” Zanzie said.

Other objects Zanzie has painted are shoes, guitars and dressers. 

She said “I think that’s the most rewarding type of art, the kind that’s actually practical, not just pretty to hang on a wall.”

“The point is to transform something completely ordinary into a one of a kind artistic piece. I can only imagine my house looking like one big mural by the time I’m done with it,” Zanzie said.

McDaris said, “I’ve probably painted 10-15 pairs, at least.”

McDaris said the inspiration came at a museum. “I’d seen a book in an art museum that had painted shoes in it. So I decided for one of my friend’s birthdays, I made her a pair of Fall Out Boys ones. And they turned out really well so from there I just made myself a pair and my sister a pair and then people started asking,” she said.

She said her inspiration for the art  “most of  the time it’s from CD covers. I’ve done a lot of CD covers. Like pretty much whatever they [the person who owns the Vans] ask for.”

On average, McDaris said the it takes her, “probably three days-like 72 hours spread out over a while,” to complete one pair of shoes.

She described her favorite pair of shoes. She said,”This girl wanted a pair for her birthday and she picked out a bunch of bands that she liked and so every part of the shoe was a different CD cover.”

“They turned out really well; they took forever to do though. They turned out really well in the end. She’s in Belgium now, so I’ll never see them ever again,” she said with a laugh.