Where the Art Is…

by Maryann Colella

She let’s me peek into her sketchbook where she spends hours with her pencil. I’m fascinated by a page of human hands in various positions, which she uses for reference since she loves to study muscle and bone structure. But the page that stands out most is adorned with many tiny yellow post-it stickies, on which she has pieced together a design for a dress that she will wear to a wedding. She draws the dress from every angle and even plays with different styles for her long blonde hair. Anyone who has had a class with Ekaterina Katia Oloy, known as “Kat” here at school, has probably seen her doodling all over her papers. Kat laughs as she tells me that including all the time she spends doodling in class, she probably spends four to six hours drawing a day.

But drawing is not just a way to pass time for Kat, it has come to be her true passion. Born in Ukraine, she moved to the United States at the age of two, and has since lived in Utah, San Diego, and just transferred to El Segundo from Mira Costa last year. In her short life, she has become been uprooted from different surroundings and groups of friends and she admits, “Last year I was mean, because it was hard to move away from all my friends in San Diego.” She says that perhaps people at ESHS don’t know that she is a nice person even though she’s blunt. “I just want people to be honest with my art, and tell me what they really think of me.”

During our conversation, Kat was definitely honest, but I found it quite refreshing and not at all mean. While she is incredibly artistic, she is very much in touch with reality, and perhaps the difficult times she’s been through these past few years have truly sparked creativity from within and given her an outlet from which to draw. When asked where she gets the inspiration for her artwork, she replies, “it usually comes from music. One time I was listening to Varekai, which is about Icarus’ flight, and so I began drawing people flying. Or another time I was listening to Linkin’ Park and I drew people fighting.”

Kat’s favorite style of art is Anime and other new art styles. She also admires Art Nouveau with its roots in traditional Japanese flat dimensions. One of her favorite artists is Alphonse Mucha, who was born in the Czech Republic and created brilliant Art Nouveau pieces and was said to have begun drawing before he was walking.

Kat says she has been doodling for as long as she can remember as well. “I used to steal my mom’s pens and ruin them because I like to draw on weird surfaces…maybe that’s why I like painting sets.” Kat recently painted the set for the ESHS drama class’ production of Inherit the Wind, and she will be designing and creating the poster and sets for the upcoming musical GYPSY.

As for a future in art, Kat plans to go to El Camino for two years and transfer to the California Institute of the Arts, and some day become an art teacher. She credits her artistic abilities and her inspiration to her mother who also draws and sews. She wants to thank her mother and her boyfriend, for being so supportive about my art.”

And to students at ESHS, Kat would like to say, “Just keep drawing, or applying whatever passion you have to whatever you do, and even if its not great art, people will see it.”