Carolina Forest High School’s Lika Khoperia has been announced as the winner of the Ignite Inspiration Sweepstakes!

The contest, sponsored by Scholastic and LIFEWTR, ran throughout the country, and we are honored to have one of our artists win. Her artwork will be featured on LIFEWTR water bottles, and she won a classroom visit from previous winner and artist David Lee.

David Lee and LIFEWTR came to our school with a presentation on Friday, March 16. Lika’s art class joined Mrs. Dutka’s AP 2D art class to watch the presentation and acknowledge Lika’s hard work during third block.  Lee, the guest speaker, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and is now a senior in college, studying graphic design.   He explained how art has always been a way to communicate feelings and was therapeutic for himself and for others.  His inspiration is from graffiti art.

Lika Khoperia is originally from the country Georgia in the Caucasus region of Eurasia and is a senior at our school. She told us about her artwork as part of the presentation. She prides herself on bending art rules to create original pieces.

“In my art piece, I used watercolor only, but unlike traditional watercolor, I used white and black. I also used it like acrylic paint by layering the paint and thickening it instead of making it watery,” she explained. “I actually did the art piece before even finding out about the competition.”

Traditionally, watercolor is a very flowy paint. Water is used as the main tool for bringing out pigment. The amount of water in the paint and on the brush puts emphasis on how light or dark the color will appear on the surface of the material; in this case, watercolor paper. Using black as a type of contrast instead of different hues hinders the amount of color on the paper. The same applies to white when attempting contrast with highlights.

However, with her idea of using watercolor like acrylic, the use of black and white blends into the painting naturally. Her surrealistic style in this piece, along with acrylic techniques, allow the use of black and white to go almost unnoticed as it blends into the rest of the painting. Her use of layering thick paint brings our attention to the many colors in the face, and as the thickness starts to thin outwards, she makes light, abstract designs with various colors.

“I named my art piece Colorblind because I wanted to portray that often enough, teens close their eyes to problems and ideas around them. Most of the time these problems can be colorful and positive depending on one’s point of view,” she disclosed to The Prowler. “By dealing with problems and solving them we get a feeling of satisfaction.”

While Lika’s art is phenomenal, she has shared that she is not planning to pursue art in college. Instead, she plans on majoring in international relations and economy. She plans to manage her own business and would love to join the UN and NATO by becoming a diplomat for her home country, Georgia.

With big goals ahead of her and accomplishments behind her, Lika Khoperia will be a name that no one will forget.

Image Credit: http://www.scholastic.com/InspireArt/#pepsi_gallery