Liz Post was an eighth grade girl who enjoyed doodling to pass the time in class. She drew graffiti letters with highlighters and pens and little pictures that she pulled from her own imagination. The Revere Art Show senior booths further sparked her art interests. Flash forward three years to Post’s junior year where she took a drawing and design class. Soon, her art teacher was recommending her for AP classes and she was winning awards for her work.

Post is now a senior and an art student at Revere High School. Her success as an artist began in her junior year when she took Robert Pierson’s drawing and design class when she won three awards for three of the big art projects in Pierson’s class.

“I immediately saw potential in her. She was very eager to get started,” Pierson said.

Pierson’s AP drawing and design class scores on technique, and he said Post does a great job with that. The class does a lot with still life and realistic pictures, and Post’s realistic pieces can be “flawless” as Pierson put it. In fact, he entered three of her projects, the three biggest projects done in AP Drawing and Design, into a Scholastic art competition. Two won the Gold Key Award and the other won the Silver Key Award scoring in the top 10%. This was the first time she had ever had a project entered into competition.

“It is very hard to win. There’s 5000 [art works] entered and they only choose the top ten percent. The top five percent is gold and the bottom five percent is silver,” Pierson said.

Post works a lot with pen and colored pencil. She especially uses a technique known as a monotype, which is a form of print making that involves painting with ink on plexi-glass and transferring that onto paper with a press. She completed her first monotype last year, and from there she just kept making them.

“She has mastered realism and colored pencils. She has mastered a form of print making. Not many people master things quickly,” Pierson said.

Pierson considers Post a very hardworking and humble artist. He said pushes herself to make her work the best it can be. Post noted that the things around her and other artists’ success are what inspires her and makes her work harder. When she finishes a piece, she wants to know how it can be improved. Post explained what she thinks about after she finishes a project.

“[I] want to see how I can make the [piece] better. It’s kind of a push to get even better than you already are,” Post said. explained that she is willing to ask for help and takes criticism well.

“[Criticism] gets sensitive with most high school students, but she is very flexible with it,” Pierson said.

Post helped a lot with the senior t-shirts this year. She made her own stencils, which is something she is interested in pursuing further, and spray painted them to get the outline of the letter. Madi Baughman, one of Post’s friends who helped with the senior t-shirts. Baughman says that Post takes a lot of pictures which inspire her art. She also said that Post was voted best artist in middle school. Baughman explained how intrigued she is with Post’s creative process and the output.

“She just takes something and turns it into something really amazing,” Baughman said.

Post also enjoys drawing hands and is very intrigued with eyes.

“There’s a certain gleam in everyone’s eyes, and a little part of everyone’s eyes to tell them apart from everyone else. They say they are the window to the soul,” Post said.

She works mostly with realistic things, but Post can see herself doing more imaginative pieces in the future.

“When I got into high school I merged towards more realistic [art]. I did lose sight of what I was doing on the side but finally I’m getting back to that,” Post said.

Post would also like to work more with color since most of her art is black and white.

She has applied to several schools including Cincinnati, Columbus, Kent State, and The Cleveland Institute of Art with plans of studying art in college and maybe going into graphic design.

“I think she will be very successful once she picks her school,” Pierson said.

Friends and family, especially by her parents and Pierson, have supported Post throughout her art journey. Post says she owes almost all of her technique skills to Pierson.

“He is so dedicated to his students, and he has helped me so much. He is a great teacher and person,” Post said.

Post is an art student who is always pushing herself to do better. She is inspired by the things around her as well as the success of others. She also has an Instagram account where she posts all of her art work. After high school, she plans to attend college to study art and possibly go into graphic design.