Valeriya is one our our youth employees this season. We asked her a few questions about art and life:

Can you tell us a little about yourself? What are your hobbies?
My name is Valeriya, I was born in Tula, Russia. We moved to Tacoma when I was three, and then finally moved to Seattle; I was raised there since. I am now 18, about to be turning 19.
A little about myself is that I love to take pictures, it really makes me happy and calm to be taking pictures of the world beauty. I also love to do any other art, like I love music and painting.

Can you tell us a little about the mural you’re working on?
The mural we are working on is a metaphor based on about Life. So we sketched out our ideas with poems and drawings. Shared ideas on what to put on the board and what color to put on. Talked about a lot of things because we want it to mean something and be detailed and easy to understand and that it can grab your eyes and maybe think about your life.

How do you like working with the team?
Working with the team is really fun, you get to learn more about the people there and their experience with art and other things they love to do, also can learn from them. It’s the most fun I have had in the summer. I would love to work with the team all the time but I can learn and grow more.

How do you think you will use the skills you gained working at ArtWorks in your life/ next job?
The skills I gain from Urban ArtWorks is to be patient and take your time, no rush. Art takes time and important to be more caring in the art work instead of being in a hurry and just having to overthink too much. The challenge part of it at Urban ArtWorks would be having to be creative and think outside the box. For me that’s tricky because I don’t have so much experience with working in this environment but I learned a lot from the people there to not stress about it and take your time.