Take note: a new crop of artists are blooming at Kingston High School, enriching our community with their talents.

KHS Fine Arts Boosters spotlights the youngest featured artist ever, 15-year-old sophomore Kindra Smith of Jefferson Beach.

Having lived her whole life in Kingston she is inspired by her “artsy” family with ties in Alaska and California.

Now, spending  a good part of her time  holed up in her bedroom studio, drawing and painting — primarily portraits of people and animals — Kindra says, “I get lost in art up in my room, spending the whole day on it. Art is a big part of my life.”

Kindra’s parents are supportive and take her to art supply stores where “I spend all my money on art supplies,” she said. “I have  boxes of supplies waiting.”  Her dad is a firefighter and her mom is in retail. At-home conversations inform Kindra of current events important to her family-like the government  shutdown and worker strikes.

As a lifelong artist and teacher, I believe we are all born as creative beings and it takes three things for us to become creating artists — a space, supplies and encouragement. Kindra has these three.

She is attending her first art class for her teacher, James Andrews’ critiques.  “I want to improve and his pointers help me do that. He is a great teacher,” she said. “I value then opinions of others about my work.”

In suggesting Kindra to be the featured artist, James Andrews said, “She is such a flippin’ rock star, but seriously, she does great work and has an awesome attitude.”

Kindra enrolled in AP Visual Art. Being placed in the AP class means she now needs to — and does — produce a finished piece a week.

So what else does Kindra do? In the spring, being on the golf team brings her four days a week to White Horse Golf Club. In a partnership with the Suquamish Tribe, the KHS team trades golf for work days filling in divots.

“I may seem quiet, but I love to hang out and have fun with my golf team,” she said. Her school spirit shows.

Whenever I ask how the arts are important to the community, I’m told that is a hard question. Why do we in the North Kitsap community make that a hard question? Why is our presence, appreciation, support and demand for full school arts funding not obvious and clear? Kindra’s response was, “The arts show who people are, how people feel.  The viewer or listener can  get inside the thinking of the artist — one more way of bringing a community together.”

Knowing many people, Kindra finds her hometown “homey, cute, and relaxed … At 15, I do not know how my life will play out, or where I will end up, but I do know I will incorporate art.”

FAB is searching for people committed to the arts in our schools. Contact JAndrews@nkschools.org.