With her hand controlling the trackpad and eyes gazing at the screen, senior Elle Gasper transforms abstract ideas into intriguing digital designs. Using tools such as Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, she crafts dynamic magazine pages for a creative project.
Inspired by her father’s dream to become an artist, Gasper began pursuing art at a young age. Aside from taking art electives in middle school, she was self taught, taking lessons from her father. While her father did not have the opportunity to build his career as an artist, he continued painting in their garage every night and showcased his work in galleries. Every so often, Gasper would join him in their makeshift art studio to spend time together.
“Growing up around someone who was so passionate about art inspired me to pursue it as a career,” Gasper said. “I kind of viewed it as finishing my dad’s legacy or finishing something that he never had the chance to do.”
While Gasper liked drawing immensely and enjoyed it as a hobby, it was not until high school that she decided to pursue art seriously. Her interest led to her active engagement in clubs such as ArtReach, Vertigo and Consumer Design Club. Throughout her journey, art teacher Matthew Reynolds supported Gasper along the way by giving advice and providing feedback. While taking Art 2, AP Art and Studio Art with Reynolds, Gasper received inspiration and motivation to continue honing her craft. Reynolds would often encourage Gasper to submit her work to local art competitions such as the Annual Exhibition at New Museum of Los Gatos — things she never had the confidence to approach before.
“I think she has become a lot more confident with what she’s doing,” Reynolds said. “She has a much better vision for what interests her and what her personal creative style is.”
Towards the beginning of her art career, most of Gasper’s art was done in traditional styles. Her main mediums of art included colored pencil, gouache and graphite. It was after starting a jewelry business on Etsy during the pandemic that Gasper was first introduced to graphic design. Creating the packaging of her product, custom stickers and jewelry care cards kickstarted her interest in this area.
“I did mostly traditional art until starting this past year,” Gasper said. “My summer program was my way of transitioning into design. Design was always something I was interested in, but I never got the chance to do because there weren’t any design classes at our school.”
This summer, Gasper attended a 4-week course at the California College of the Arts, a private nonprofit located in San Francisco in the graphic design discipline. Besides graphic design, the program had other disciplines available for enrollment, such as architecture, film and game arts. Every Friday, students could try other specializations in the program’s interdisciplinary workshops. During her time there, Gasper was able to have personalized one-on-one meetings with her instructor and even hands-on experience in practices such as cyanotype printing. For her last few days at the program, Gasper created a mini magazine, made up of new and past designs.
“I had never been in an environment full of people who took art seriously and wanted to pursue it similarly to me,” Gasper said. “Everyone was so passionate about art and having a strong community of artists made me motivated.”
At the end of the program, Gasper won a creative scholarship of $40,000 to the California College of the Arts. One student was chosen out of each discipline in the program, and Gasper was selected for the graphic design discipline.
“It was really fulfilling because I worked really hard during the program,” Gasper said. “Knowing that I stood out in that way made me feel confident and it was very exciting.”
After high school, Gasper plans on majoring in user interface design. Being surrounded by similar minded students during her program greatly inspired her to continue going down this path.
“My main advice for other people pursuing art as their major would be to not feel discouraged,” Gasper said. “I believe that if you love something, then there is nothing stopping you from pursuing art as a major”
