Marielle Martinez, 12th grade, has loved art for two years. “I took a class with Mr. Locascio and Mrs. Wallen,” Marielle explained, and she has enjoyed art ever since. Marielle recently won a $500 scholarship from the Pinellas Art Education Association. In addition, she was honored at the Scholastic Art Awards ceremony on Thursday, February 12, in a ceremony at Gibbs High School. Marielle’s portfolio was also awarded a gold key during separate judging. However, out of all the categories of art, Marielle said her preferred forms are drawing, painting, and ceramics. Marielle’s favorite subjects to depict are people and gas masks. Her favorite artist, the one who inspires her the most, is Will Cotton, an American painter who is known for his portraits featuring landscapes of candy and sweets, with those landscapes often containing human subjects. “He does these incredibly realistic portraits,” Marielle said of Cotton. “I kinda wanna live in one of his paintings.” Marielle said she loves art because, in her words, “it’s better than anything else in the world.”

Marielle’s work, along with that of other students who won a gold key for their artwork, will be entered in in the 2015 Scholastic National Competition, which will held in New York. After high school, Marielle hopes to attend either Florida Southern College or FSU. She wants to earn a double major in creative writing and fine art, and hopes to pursue a career in writing and illustrating. Many pieces by Marielle and other OHS students can be found online at artsonia.com, by searching ‘Osceola High School’.