After broadening her artistic talent in our Saturday Young Artists Program, Emily Kraus and her family reached out to Fleisher to let us know that she had received a number of high school scholarship offers thanks in part to her experiences here. Emily, who has been enrolled in the program since the spring of 2015, is headed to Philadelphia’s Nazareth Academy High School next fall, where she will be the designated fine art scholar and also receive digital video and young woman inventor scholarships. Emily also received a competitive scholarship from Archbishop Ryan High School and has won a number of awards since she enrolled in the Saturday program.

We checking in with Emily to chat about how her time at Fleisher deepened her love for visual art, boosted her grades, and influenced her penchant for extreme baking.

When your mom called us to let us know about your scholarship offers, she mentioned that Fleisher played a big role. Can you tell us how?

I have no talent in sports, rather, I have talents in the arts. I love the performing arts, but when it comes to the visual arts, my life is complete. Before attending Fleisher, I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know about art. They taught me everything from drawing, inking, and charcoal, to painting, sculpting, and photography, and even more. My teachers at Fleisher taught me about all of the aspects of being an artist.  They not only taught me technique, but they broadened my creativity.  They showed me that it is ok to experiment, to mess up, and to have creative license. They showed me that it is not just ok, but a good idea to think outside the box.  I believe that what my experience at Fleisher has taught me has truly had an impact on all of the scholarships and competitions that I have won, because they helped me to gain the techniques and confidence that I needed in order to say, “Get ready ‘cause here I come.” The more I learn, the more I realize how much there is to learn, and I am so happy to have a place like Fleisher with such wonderful and knowledgeable teachers.”

It looks like a number of the offers you received have to do with digital photography and video. Are these your preferred mediums?

I enjoy digital photography and video and also like doing 2D, 3D, and stop-motion animation, but I don’t really have a primary medium at this point. I enjoy the diversity of being able to work in any medium right now. That is one of the things that I really love about art, the fact that there are so many ways that I could go with it. So, for now, I plan to keep growing and learning all that I can about all aspects of art, so that I can grow my mental art encyclopedia and build my arsenal of techniques and knowledge that I can pull from.

Your artistic career is still in its early stages, but do you have any plans to study art beyond high school? If not, do you think your time with us will have any influence on other educational endeavors?  

Yes, I am interested in 2D and 3D animation, 3D design and modeling, film, photography, graphic design, and clothing design.  At the same time I want to continue developing my skills in painting, drawing, pastels, charcoal, darkroom and digital photography, digital design, and experimental mediums.  Basically, I want to keep growing and learning as much as I can about art. I also love doing what I call extreme baking, where I apply my knowledge of art to decorating some amazing cakes and baked goods.

My studies at Fleisher definitely support my educational efforts, because before I attended Fleisher I could not visualize things as well at school or in everyday life like I do now.  The visualization techniques that I have learned, helps me to mentally take apart and put together things that I need to learn and study for school.  Since taking classes at Fleisher my grades have gone up and I have had the highest academic average in my class since 2016.

All images above were provided by Emily Kraus.