SAM ON SAM:  I’ve always been really artistic, and that’s helped shape me into the awkward teen that I am. As a senior attending Gibbs High in the Pinellas County Center for the Arts for visual arts, my entire routine is created to revolve around art. It’s not really surprising that I get frustrated with it sometimes, but that doesn’t stop me from making it. I make it to get a grade, yeah, but I make it for myself, too. I take certain situations and put them into my art. My biggest influence would be my life itself. Every bad thing that happens, every good thing that happens, and every trouble I have goes straight into my art. For example, on May 7, I have a senior solo show opening at Studio @620 in downtown St. Pete. (No shame in self-promotion.) All of the art revolves around my personal insecurities, and the good thing about it is, I didn’t hold back. That’s the one thing that’s been keeping me interested in art for the past four years: It’s a channel for me to vent. From bad, badddd break-ups, to what scares me the most, to the happiest times I’ve ever felt — it’s all in my art. I’m not confident enough in myself or others to talk about my problems out loud, but when I create art, it speaks for me.

As told to Dylan Dusseault, St. Petersburg Catholic High

Art, pictured at top left: Reaching, pen and watercolor

On Exhibit features high school artists from the Tampa Bay area. Go to tb-two.com to see more work. If you know a high school student we should consider spotlighting (including yourself), please send the name, school, art medium and contact information to tbtwostaff@gmail.com. Put “on exhibit” in the subject line.