Susie Lee
Reporter

Senior Devin Ruiz studies her horn-rimmed black glasses, her sleek bob and the curve of her chin as she glances between the mirror and her canvas, sketching her self-portrait that helps discover her identity.

“Art is like creating little pieces of myself,” said Ruiz. “ Your own face is extremely accessible because you know yourself more than others. Drawing helps me figure myself out.”

Art not only allows Ruiz to express and discover herself, but it also allows her to understand the people and world around her.

“A lot of the time when I take pictures of people, I don’t tell them what to do because I want to capture a moment that’s uniquely their own,” said Ruiz. “Those photos make me wonder questions like, ‘Why does that person have piercings?’ or ‘Why does she have short hair?’ Studying their faces helps me learn what lies behind their expressions and how people interact with each other.”

In addition to painting and photography, Ruiz has designed school mural projects and served in stage management. Last October, art teacher Rachel McIntire took her Honors II and AP Studio Art classes to a middle school in Palo Alto where they painted a mural celebrating the Latino culture. After painting three Spanish female dancers twirling around a lake, Ruiz learned to apply different methods of composition and technique to her own artistic style.

“That experience taught me how to work on a large scale,” said Ruiz. “Rather than working on a small canvas, it is a lot easier to get the details I want in a large scale because once you step back, the things that seem up-close when you’re up at the canvas turn into detail at a distance.”

Ruiz likes to blend her own creativity and style with outside influences to make her art appealing to a larger audience.

“I admired the range of mediums and styles Hockney and Peyton explored to render the full spectrum of human emotions,” said Ruiz. “So I evolved from using different grades of graphite and sketching on a small scale, to painting with bold, vibrant colors on large, square-like canvases too because I wanted my art to be accessible and originally appealing.”

Assimilating new technical and stylistic ideas has influenced Ruiz’s definition of art—there is none.

“I think everything, an idea or object, is art because everything has to be made with creativity,” said Ruiz. “Like, for instance, magazines require creativity in design, and items like desks are innovative and functional. Even though the artist might not find it perfect, it’s still art because someone else might find it enjoyable.”

Ruiz also links art with stage management, but the latter is an alternate form of art that requires different skills.
“Stage management is art too, but not in the same way as drawing and painting,” said Ruiz. “I keep art and stage management as two separate things because they’re different—Stage management is building people skills and organization, whereas art is more self-contained.”

“When I was a freshman, Miriam Czech frantically recruited me for lighting assistance. I was scared because I didn’t know anyone and I’ve never tried it before,” said Ruiz. “But two years later I volunteered for stage manager and it was fantastic. Being a stage manager isn’t like an actor who only has to worry about his or her own self, but it involves making sure everyone is ready and satisfied.”

Although Ruiz plans to attend DePaul University in the fall to pursue a degree in stage management, she said she plans to continue painting and drawing as a hobby.

“I never thought I would be doing anything related to theater, but it was just thrust upon me and I really liked it,” said Ruiz. “You should never be afraid to try something out in high school and be able to pursue it because it might work out really well.”