Reinhart's art inspired by nature
Central freshman Leah Reinhart is the school’s Feature Artist of the Month. The young artist is often inspired by nature, like with the big fish, which is her favorite piece. (Submitted photo)
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
“I thought everyone was joking.”
That’s what freshman Leah Reinhart said when she found out she’d been selected as Central’s Featured Artist of the Month.
The young artist is often inspired by music, feelings and her surroundings, especially nature. Or just whatever feels right in the moment.
It’s a creative process that doesn’t necessarily have a plan, but produces soulful results—like the big fish, which is her favorite piece. A time-consuming piece of work, it required innumerable attention to detail during the cutting process because Reinhart wanted to make sure everything was precise. It also taught her a valuable life lesson.
“It made me realize never to give up, even though it gets rough,” she said.
It’s also the only piece that comes with an inherent message attached to it about how much Reinhart enjoys nature and the peaceful, stress-relieving powers you can harness from it.
Of course, the fish also offers a more simplistic reading: she just likes fishing.
The interpretive nature of art is on full display, and its articulation of nature’s calming allure reveals a deep-seated creative process, despite Reinhart’s modest denials. It’s reminiscent of her favorite piece, “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh. It provokes thoughts of peace and thoughts of nature’s calm and how we all live under nature’s watchful eye.
Reinhart doesn’t have a long-term goal beyond hoping people remain interested in her art—an outcome she hopes to accomplish by continuing to appeal to the subtleties of the connection to nature. In the short term, however, she hopes people appreciate the art all around them.
“I think people should celebrate art because it tells a story and it’s mainly peaceful. What makes it important to me is seeing the different ways you can tell the stories and making the story a beautiful piece of art,” she said.
Additionally, Reinhart would like to remind everyone of the boundless limits of art and how it transcends.
“I think everyone should give art a chance some time in their life, no matter how old,” she said.
