Some students doodle or scribble in the margins of their APUSH notes, but not everyone creates professional art for a profit. Senior Emily Lawson created her own website, sells her art, and was even featured by the University of Texas for her talent.

Ever since Lawson was little, art has been major a part of her life. Now this year, recognizing her passion for art, Lawson has made the decision to create her own business, by first building her own website.

“I’ve sold my art since freshman year, but I decided as a senior that I needed to start paving the road I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life—at least for now—which is why I made the website,” Lawson said. I wanted to sell art that expresses things I’ve felt heavily because it feels personal and I want people to see my art and maybe relate to.”

Along with the pre-made art available on her website, customers have the option to request custom art made by Lawson.

“The website was really professional and super easy to follow; I requested a custom pet portrait of my cat off of Emily’s website,” senior Emma Roach said. “I paid for the art through the website and it was really easy, and she just gave it to me in class.”

Like many other artists, Emily’s artistic style comes from inspiration, such as personal experiences and looking at other artists and their works.

“I get my inspiration from almost everything in life I guess. I take photos of things I enjoy, I document my friends and strangers and their habits, I work from experiences I’ve had, and I have a lot of creative people in my life that I like to pull inspiration from,” Lawson said. “Some of my favorite artists are Keith Haring, Gustav Klimt and Frida Kahlo; I feel like you can’t really dismiss those artists and everyone knows they’re incredible.”

Not only does Lawson sell her art, but as National Art Honor Society President, she also works on community service projects with other students.

“NAHS is a student-run club in which students do community service projects to promote art in the school and the Austin community,” art teacher Laura Hartford said. “It’s a student-run- club so Emily being the president, , is the one that has to sign off on everyone’s community service hours and she has more responsibility in getting community service projects started. She pretty much just takes more of a leadership role in the club while I just sponsor it.”

On October 20, Lawson was invited to showcase her art at UT and also receive feedback from some of the professors there.

“I got an email from the UT art director inviting me to showcase my art and I got to meet a few professors as well, and they gave me feedback on some of my pieces,” Lawson said. “I met this really cool lady from New York and we went over my techniques, the variety and the mediums, and my style as a whole. It was really nice. I got good feedback on my work and I was able to hear opinions about my art from other artists which was very influential and helpful in finding my own style.”