In a school of talented students, with limitless opportunities to express themselves, one senior, Victoria Xu, uses art to convey her passions.

Xu, vice president of the National Art Honor Society, shares insight on her experience with constructing art and her plans to continue down the creative path.

She started professionally creating art at the young age of six, and this passion has led her to be accepted into the Parsons School of Design in New York.

Night Scene, Watercolor

“I’d like to someday be in the entertainment industry and make set designs for music videos and movies,” said Xu sharing her aspirations.

According to Xu, she spends an average of ten hours to an entire week working on a piece. The longest amount of time she has devoted to an individual piece of work was two months.

In the plethora of mediums available to students, Xu favors watercolor most of all, because of the ability to represent a different atmosphere for a composition.

Sunday Morning, Acrylic

“I like the way it’s transparent but, can be colorful at the same time. It creates a surreal feeling that’s difficult to achieve with harsher mediums.”

When asked about the influences that contribute to her portfolio, Xu draws inspiration from her travels to Asia.

“…My family lives there and it’s just cool to see how their way of life is different and like it’s a lot more slow paced, then it is here and I really like it,” Xu says, “it’s just beautiful, so that inspires me.”

The Process of Realization, oil paint with faux flowers