A young love for art has now turned into something that Highland senior and AP Studio Art student Mia Hansen will be doing for the rest of her life.

Highland’s “tARTan FEST” was a time for Hansen to display her talents on the canvas for the community to see. She was able to look back on the school year and be proud of the hours and hours of hard work.

“I’ve been doing art for as long as I can remember,” Hansen said. “When I was in kindergarten, that is all I wanted to do.”

All she has been doing since then is any type of art possible. From cartoons to doodles to more serious artwork starting in middle school, Hansen’s focus has always been to improve.

“At the end of junior year, I decided to do a charcoal portrait,” Hansen said. “It made me realize how much I loved that medium.”

As Hansen worked outside of her comfort zone on the portrait for a total of 15 hours, she knew that this was the next art path she was going to take.

Her five portraits displayed in the school on Tuesday night showed the time, effort, and strength put into each stroke of charcoal. Hansen’s work stood out in the viewers’ eyes.

Hansen’s strong love for art makes her wish to continue to study it in college. She will be attending the University of Utah in the fall and will soon decide what career path to take.

“I’m thinking about being an art director, a storyboard artist, a two-dimensional animator,a video game designer, or an art teacher,” Hansen said. “I’m trying to pave a lot of pathways for myself.”

Students like Hansen were pleased with the turnout of the school’s art festival and are proud of the art pieces they were able to showcase.