Hattie Haldeman is Cotton Candy. 

Boysenberry. Orion Orange. Galaxy Green. Teal Tiger’s Eye. 

Of all the colors, organized – fine-point sharpies, Pentel pens, Microns – with such precision as to be called art themselves, Senior Hattie Haldeman says she would be Cotton Candy. 

Her artwork spans sketchbooks, post-it notes, empty spaces on quizzes she’s finished early. 

To grade her homework is to get a private tour of the art gallery she has made out of the margins. 

“My favorite part of drawing is when I’m able to color because I enjoy experimenting with my style at that point,” Haldeman says. 

Music and browsing Pinterest inspire the young artist. It is through interacting with other forms of art that she is able to unlock the doors to her own ideas.

“Traditionally, I take a lot of inspiration from Van Gogh,” Haldeman considers her favorite artists. “My favorite art piece right now, though, is ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Hokusai.” 

Art is something ever-present in Haldeman’s day, from the sketchbook at her side to the ink on her hands – the pains of being a lefty. 

“It’s a stress reliever for me. In a way, it gives other people voices where they usually wouldn’t have one,” Haldeman reflects on what draws her into the universes of art, “I love the fact that there is no limit of definition.” 

 To Haldeman, art is less a word in the dictionary but rather a shapeshifter. 

“It’s hard to define artists simply because of the world’s definition of art, but I’ve found that it can come in pretty much any form,” she says. “An artist is someone who uses any form of art, like music or poetry, for self-expression.” 

In reality, the word ‘reality’ is only a chain binding art. 

“My biggest frustration is the stigma against any style that isn’t straight up realism,” Haldeman says. “I have a more unrealistic style, what people like to call ‘cartoonish’ or ‘anime’ when they don’t know how else to define it.” 

Haldeman is frustrated when others are unable to join the artists in the different universes they explore. 

“It’s much harder as a small artist to succeed when you have an unrealistic style, simply because a lot of the community thinks it doesn’t qualify as ‘real art,’” Haldeman elaborates. 

When told to color inside the lines, when told to color outside the lines, Haldeman decides to draw her own lines. 

“An artistic success or masterpiece is something the artist decides,” Haldeman holds to her own unique style and wishes others to do the same. “It’s only a bonus if people also enjoy it. If you create something that you genuinely think is good, it’s a masterpiece.”