Staff writer
Marion High school freshman Grace Overton unleashed something wild in Marion Middle School this summer.
Using no more than a keen eye, a sure hand, and art supplies, she created a massive, caterwauling Wildcat head for an entryway bulletin board at MMS.
“I drew it freehand,” Grace said.
She was surprised when math instructor Deanna Thierolf asked her to draw the school’s mascot.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Grace said, “but I was excited and I really wanted to do it. I had never done anything like it before.”
Grace likes to draw and paint a variety of ornamental quotes decorated with floral designs whenever she has spare time.
Thierolf and other middle school teachers had previously noticed Grace’s talent.
“She has an eye for detail,” science instructor Kelsey Metro said.
At the end of Grace’s seventh grade year, Metro said Grace asked if she could make a poster for her that Metro was going needed to make over summer.
The decorative poster reads, “You can’t control what other people do. You can control the way that you react.”
Grace also created a poster for English teacher Jona Neufeld that reads, “You are free to choose but you are not free from the consequences of your choices.”
“Grace is such a sweet girl,” Neufeld said. “She would do anything to help out.”
Metro and Grace discussed fingernail painting designs.
“Before my sister got married, I had Grace come over and do my nails, small design and all,” Metro said. “She is such a talented and wonderful young lady.”
Word got around.
Grace could draw, but on the Wildcat project, Grace did what many young artists often tend to do.
“I procrastinated,” Grace said.
When she started, she said it took her about three days at the beginning of August to complete the beast.
“I looked up wildcats that looked like our wildcat and I outlined the face and the fur lines,” Grace said. “Then I colored everything in.”
Thierolf said Grace is very meticulous, and draws swiftly.
“When I unrolled the art work, the details were amazing,” Thierolf said. “It looks so good in our front foyer. I appreciate her willingness to contribute her talents to MMS.”
Now, a freshman, she hasn’t picked up anymore poster assignments as of yet.
“The creativity part of art is just cool,” Grace said. “I can’t wait to take an art class next year.”