Over the past few years, Austin has become a hub of arts with the growing Austin Area Arts group and those things under it, including the Austin ArtWorks Center and the Austin ArtWorks Festival.

This art explosion is part of why Austin Living magazine has dedicated one issue every year to host its annual Austin Expression — a showcase of the arts in Austin and surrounding areas.

For the past few years, in the July-August edition, we’ve featured those artists creating masterpieces either in Austin or formerly from Austin.

The magazine also includes three features on artists with a particular and central connection between them. This year we focused on Austin High School and three students, now graduated, who are excelling in their mediums.

Paige Wangen, Kassidy Tabor and Jenna Krueger are showing that along with Austin, the students of Austin High School  and its art are ever-growing, just like Austin itself.

SCULPTING HER MIND

CLAY IS KASSIDY TABOR’S PLAYGROUND

Kassidy Tabor sits back and studies the piece in front of her.

So far it’s a clay mug, prefired and still very much being formed.

Two of three strands of clay had already been attached to form a handle.

But there is a problem.

Tabor’s face breaks into a wry smile before admitting, “This isn’t turning out how I want it.”

Still, she pushes it forward and it’s something that art instructor Jessie Smith sees each time he watches Tabor work in class.

“She’s really taken the time to do different stuff,” Smith said. “Reaching out to understand things … like wheel throwing.”

Tabor looks at it a bit differently. Perhaps, not quite so much as a challenge.

“I like how you can start with a ball and make whatever you want,” Tabor said.

Clay isn’t Tabor’s first foray into art. Before she got her hands into the clay, Tabor was painting, mainly using acrylic with some watercolor.

But before long, Tabor was working her way into sculpting and all of its different facets.

“It’s fun,” Tabor said. “It takes me away.”

Watching Tabor work is part of why Smith loves teaching. And one of those aspects of watching Tabor work is her tenacity and her willingness to try something new.

“She’s meticulous, a perfectionist,” Smith said.

It pushes Tabor, Smith says, and makes him think that there might be more of a future for her, despite pottery being a tough medium in which to continue.

“It sure can be,” Smith said, as he contemplates her future. “But pottery is tough. If you don’t have access to clay or a kiln, that part of your life is gone.”

Tabor doesn’t give that a whole lot of thought however. She spends a lot of time letting the wheel and the sculpture take her away.

“It’s fun,” Tabor says simply. “It takes me away. I can focus on the project and I just want it to look its best.”

That kind of drive doesn’t go under-appreciated with Smith and other teachers like him.

“It makes my job easier,” he said. “Some students have a hard time finding themselves. I think she has a lot of discovery yet to do. She likes doing things that are cool and taking it to the next level.”

LOVE OF THE CHALLENGE

JENNA KRUEGER HAS JUMPED FULLY INTO THE WORLD OF THE BRUSH

Jenna Krueger paints for reasons many paint, but there is also something else that draws her:

The challenge.

“There’s nothing really specific,”Krueger said. “I like to paint different things than what everybody else is painting. I like to challenge myself.”

Art has always been a part of Krueger’s life; she narrows it down to her third-grade year. As her talents progressed she started looking more seriously at what she was doing, taking opportunities to continually learn about art and herself.

“She’s a very driven individual and she loves challenges,” teacher Jake Levisen said. “You can present ideas and she’ll take it and run. That’s why she’s excelling.”

While painting is her preferred focus, what Krueger paints isn’t so specific. Krueger enjoys exploring ideas. Watching her do these things in a class is exciting, Levisen said.

“She’s eager to learn everything and anything,” Levisen added. “Her approach to art is fascinating to watch.”

At the end of May, Krueger was awarded with the annual Artist of the Year scholarship — a hefty $1,000 check that is meant for students pursuing their art in whichever way they choose.

Krueger isn’t absolutely sure if she will pursue art as a profession after high school, but she said art will always be part of her life.

“I thought about doing it as a career before, but I don’t think I will,” she said. “It will always be something I will be doing as a hobby.”

It’s the perfect excuse for ducking away from real life for Krueger. 

“It’s just really relaxing,” she said. “It takes me to my own place.”

BEHIND THE LENS

PAIGE WANGEN FINDS A WAY TO EXPRESS HERSELF THROUGH THE CAMERA

Paige Wangen is that typical case of “once an artist, always an artist.”

Wangen has been taking photographs for a long time, but her focus on art has been around longer than that.

Like so many artists, Wangen’s interest in the art world reaches back to elementary school and her medium happens to be behind the lens.

“I just always had a thing for taking pictures, and I would just always have something in my hand to take pictures,” Wangen said.

It didn’t really take off seriously, however, until the year she took Photo 1 with teacher Robin Brown. That’s when things really took off as she headed into Photo 2, again with Brown.

“Paige has taken a lot of art classes,” Brown said of Wangen. “She loves art, composition and she’s not afraid to learn something.”

That desire and push to learn has led Wangen in the direction of landscape and portrait photography and it’s really been a singular push, according to Brown.

“She doesn’t settle for the first attempt,” Brown said. “She’s really inspired to take pictures now.”

Again, like other artists, the desire to take photographs goes deeper still. Art is so often about expression and Wangen takes that and runs.

“[It’s] being myself,” Wangen said. “Nobody can tell me, ‘Oh, take a picture of that.’ I can do whatever I want.”