Kayleigh Swarthout can often be found wandering around with a sketchbook and pencils. It’s slightly less messy than her childhood days, when, she confesses, “I’d draw on the shower wall with my mom’s lipstick.”
That memory is a testament to exactly how long art, specifically drawing, has been a part of Kayleigh’s life, and to the lifelong support of her family. Art has come down the generations of Kayleigh’s family through her mother and grandfather, as well as her grandmother, a photographer, but Kayleigh plans to be the first in her family to make a career out of drawing. Her artwork, to be displayed downtown, shows a strong interest in the fantasy genre, depicting fairies, dragons, and other fantastical figures in vibrant shades such as blue and yellow. Yet for all the time that Kayleigh has been drawing, she has spent comparatively little of it taking art classes.
“I always drew,” she says, “and I really took an art class until partway through high school.” And although she had supportive parents and teachers and years worth of practice, it was a difficult step at first. “I always struggled in art class because I wasn’t used to using the rules,” she says, adding that she would much rather have been drawing what she wanted, and not what the assignment was. In fact, she failed art one, but persevered with the encouragement of her teachers to take the next class and turn her assignments in on time. As a result, she says, “Now I’m really good at getting it done by the due date.” Her technique also changed, incorporating more shading and gradual changes in color, which she regards as an improvement over her “liney” stile of before. The subject matter, however, has remained the same, and she continues to draw with a strong interest in fantasy subjects. However, she can now often be found sketching from what she sees before her, or wandering with her sketchbook until she sees something that she’d like to draw, and this is what first introduced her to the opportunity to have her artwork displayed.
“In high school I never wanted to show anyone my stuff,” she says, “When it was done it got put away.” However, since studying fine art and psychology in college, she had begun to think that showing her art was, in fact, a good idea. That was when she met Colleen Kappler, while sketching in a gallery exhibit, which led directly to the offer to display her work.
Kayleigh’s works, consisting of colored pencil, mixed media and paintings, are something that she intends to continue improving throughout her life. But she also believes that art, whether it is hers or not, can positively impact people’s lives. After studying fine arts and Psychology at the College of Lake county, where she plans to return this fall, she believes that she has a future in art therapy, a form of counseling which she explains as, “Basically healing through art. You can paint, or draw and the counselor will have you share what you did, and have you try to explain it.” This therapy method is an alternative to more traditional therapy based in conversation, which she believes can be very useful because it allows the patient to “Draw out what’s in your head, or paint it out and explain it as you go,” giving the patient something to do, and allowing them to express their emotions when words fail them.