By Amelia Parry

I’m sure everybody can put a face to the name ‘Saylor Sprenger.’ Head girl, a participant on the alpine team, lover of the outdoors, the list goes on. What some may not know is that Saylor is also a budding artist. Saylor has always been an academically strong student throughout her years of secondary school. Due to the rigorous workload, it was challenging to find the time to do things she enjoyed. Luckily, every year since Grade Eight, Saylor has been able to work some time for art into her schedule.
‘Beauty Within’ - 2020

“When developing the varying components of my graphite drawing, I was stuck with the idea of ‘ideas,’ funnily enough. To be specific, what sparks an idea? This question initiated a chain reaction of ideas branching onto my paper. I then focused on the specific theme of inner beauty. Physical beauty is such a spotlighted concept in our society even while a vast number of people preach the idea of beauty within. The issue with this topic is how do we truly appreciate inner beauty when our world is so fixated on visuals? In my drawing, the butterfly symbolizes the idea of ‘beauty,’ and the lightbulb is an obvious representation of an ‘idea.’ My goal with this piece was to discover how we could enable ourselves to see something when another already hides it. The butterfly within the lightbulb is like beauty to a human. Yes, the butterfly is trapped inside the light bulb, but it remains visible. How do we make inner beauty visible, like the butterfly? My piece isn't meant to answer this question but to instigate a conversation surrounding this idea. Regarding the composition of the graphite drawing, it was sketched on Stonehenge paper with various hardnesses and sizes on pencils. I finished off my piece by painting a light orange watercolour wash over the butterfly to draw attention to this aspect of my piece because inner beauty should be emphasized.”
​Like most artists, art provides Saylor with a social outlet, as well as a chance to gain some peace and mind amongst all the hustle and bustle with her other classes. Due to the new module because of COVID, Saylor was able to find much-needed time to practice her art. The social aspect of art became ever enhanced because of the two-hour classes in the first module. Saylor immensely enjoyed learning about people’s projects along with their lives. She claims this was one of the most delightful things surrounding the subject.
‘An American Teen’ - 2018

“For this project, I had decided to create a painting surrounding the idea of identity, and what better way to do this in my mind was to paint a portrait. The person I chose to paint was one of my favourite artists, Khalid. I wanted to paint him because he expresses his identity through his music, for example, in his song American Teen, so I wanted to express his identity through a painting instead. The title of my piece is An American Teen because that particular song by him inspired me. I created this painting using acrylic paint on plain white paper. I used many techniques that included using graphite paper and lots of blending. I tried to convey the artwork’s emotion through the subject's eye because I think that a lot can be said about someone through their eyes. In my piece, Khalid's eyes are relatively dark, which sends a message of mystery. My goals for this piece were more on the technical side as I challenged myself with aspects of painting that I had never attempted before, like painting eyes. Before this project, I had never painted a human eye, and this was my first attempt, and I am happy with how it turned out. I enjoyed creating this piece, and I think in the future, this will lead me to make more portraits in the coming years.”
​With regard to how Saylor has grown as an artist, she has struggled. Coming from an extremely structured art program in elementary school, she could not decipher what her strengths and weaknesses were. Going into Grade Eight at Morven, Saylor constantly attempted to make art that was scattered all over the place. Her work became messy and overwhelming. That is one common misconception with art; it is challenging to grow as an artist and find what works best for you. Continuing art for a few more years, Saylor claims that currently being in Grade Twelve, she looks back at her evolution as an artist. It is clear for Saylor that her style has simplified immensely. This year, she was able to control the urge to keep adding to her works when they were finished. This has resulted in much better turnouts in her pieces. Her biggest ‘muse’ of art, if you will, is the music she listens to. Saylor takes inspiration from various musical artists, applying them to the fine arts. Saylor says that it adds a tremendous passion for what she’s creating. Along with music, Saylor also drives her inspiration from the outdoors.
‘Cover’ - 2019

“This term, for my independent art project, I decided to recreate a piece of cover art for a song that was unique and caught my eye. The minute I saw the cover, I knew which direction I wanted to take the work and what adjustments I wanted to make. Since I had painted quite a few portraits before, I was confident in how I wanted to start the piece. I originally began painting with gouache but later switched to acrylic as I needed a more versatile medium. I am pleased with how this project turned out, as I think that the skin toning all blended super well. I was more hesitant to paint the mouth because the highlighting and detail within the tongue and lips were very intricate, but approaching it as shapes instead of actual body parts helped my outlook.”
​Saylor hopes that she will be able to make time for her hobby as art in the future, considering how much she loves it. Concerning future careers and post-secondary options, she has not incorporated art into many aspects, but that doesn’t mean she won’t stop developing her skills as an artist. Saylor thinks that art can work its way into every part of life, so she doesn’t deem it necessary to plan it. It’s merely spontaneous. Below are some other images of Saylor’s incredible art!