Ava is 17 years old, and has been a student at One River in Englewood, NJ for 3 years.

Tell us a little bit about your journey as a young and developing artist?

I’ve always liked doing art. When I was younger I would sit outside painting the concrete with water and a plain paintbrush because my mom hated messes. It would dry and I would do it again and again. When I got into middle school I got really into art and took classes and watched as many YouTube videos as I could.

Which has been your favorite project to work on at One River and why?

In an animation class, we started off with something that we hated drawing and we morphed it into something we liked drawing. I made a house turning into flowers, it was one of my favorite projects!

How would you describe One River to your friends?

Really fun! I’ve made a lot of friends going here. It’s one of my favorite things to do when I get out of school, is to to go to One River and do art, it’s always fun.

What would you tell people who’ve never dabbled in art making are the real benefits to trying it?

Whenever I talk to people who don’t do art they all say, “I can’t even do a stick figure” and people don’t realize it’s not something you’re always born with. You can learn and it’s really fun once you do!