To Mrs. Clayton, one of my favourite art teachers that I’ve had.

I’ve always had fun with art, but I’d never really had a teacher so connected with and realistic with it before. Not that being an art teacher alone doesn’t give people merit, but being a freelance artist at the same time who actively enjoys art wasn’t something that I had heard of before. Whenever you introduced yourself and showed your art my freshman year, I was taken aback by that—subconsciously, I thought that being an artist wasn’t a career possibility. And you’re passionate about it, too. You actually want your students to test their abilities and boundaries to their fullest extent, to not hold themselves back or put the bare minimum into their assignments. It shows them that art can be enjoyable, that it has meaning, and that they will still grow and evolve if they only draw stick figures. I aspire to be like you in that way: confident, assertive, realistic, and kind with a passion for anything and everything creative. Thank you.

Sincerely, Sydney Ross