SPOTLIGHT ON ANA PILIOGLOS

By Casey Donovan '21

Ana, a senior at TA, is a skilled student who excels in the arts both in the classroom and outside of school. Ana pursues several different art forms including music, painting, drawing, and digital art. Keep reading to learn about her inspirations, motivations, and progress as an artist!

Ana has been exploring art for most of her life and was young when she “got hooked on cartoons,” enjoying things like “really old black and white Disney stuff, looney toons, and things we all grew up on like Phineas & Ferb or Danny Phantom.” Cartoons and comics continue to be some of Ana’s biggest inspirations as they “pushed me to want to draw my own characters and find a way to engage in those universes. As I got a little older and had more internet access, finding [fan] communities where I could share my art and express it in a way that others would engage with made me realize how much I enjoyed creating messages for others in my work.”

Ana’s driving force behind her work comes from “having something for myself… Music is all about performance, but with art, I can perform for myself. Also, connecting art to more productive and lucrative things has helped keep me interested a lot, I've been doing commissions for over half a year now and have even branched out to painting sneakers and various items… There's also a nostalgic element behind art, specifically drawing, that I'll never be able to let go of.” 

Ana has faced obstacles as an artist such as learning about the world of commissioned art. “When you're doing a commission you really want to—have to, get it right. Trying to portray someone else's internal thoughts or images is a very intimidating thing for me,” she says. Nevertheless, Ana continues to improve herself as an artist and put copious amounts of effort into her work. “I'll confess that often stress burns me out, but sometimes art is a nice pick-me-up,” explains Ana. 
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​Ana sees art as “something I'll always do in some way or form.” Her achievements as an artist exhibit her dedication and evident passion for the arts. Ana’s creative contributions to TA will continue to inspire other artists and remind students of how important it is to explore your interests and look for inspiration in every aspect of your life.