Each Missoula high school has a different reputation based on their programs. Big Sky High School is known for its agriculture, Sentinel is known for its sports and Hellgate is notorious for its breathtaking art and incredible artists. From freshmen just starting their art careers to seniors preparing for their future in art, Hellgate has a wide variety of talented students. 

     Hellgate freshman Tessa Collard is not only an artist, but also a singer, actor and the JV starting center defender for Hellgate’s girls soccer team. Collard was immersed in the culture of art at a camp she attended in 2021. She said she was “surrounded by people who were really passionate about drawing.” This experience allowed Collard to see “everyone’s own styles and ideas, and it made me interested in finding my own style.” 

     Collard enjoys drawing semi-realistic human faces and is inspired by her artistic friends along with drawings she finds on social media. She said, “I think I’ll always be very interested in drawing and I would love to experiment with other forms of art like painting and photography. I’m hoping to keep it as a hobby I can always turn to to help me unplug from the world and focus completely on creating something for myself to be proud of.” 

    Her favorite drawing portrays a portrait of a girl. She said, “I think I’m still in the phase of figuring out my art style and learning how to draw things in a way that I’m proud of, and this has been one of the first times where I felt like all my practice came together in one piece. I love the idea of making people and faces come to life with my drawing, so that’s why I decided to draw this.” 

     Ila Bell, a sophomore, is another one of Hellgate’s talented students. She said, “I grew up doing art all the time and I’ve always loved it, so it’s been a part of my life since I can remember. Painting and art in general became one of my favorite things when I was really young and I have tried to do it as much as I can since.” 

     Bell enjoys painting with acrylics and capturing things and landscapes found in and around urban environments. She was inspired by some of her old art teachers who she said “have pushed me and brought me to a new place with art.” Other artists such as Stephen Hayes and Richard Diebenkorn have also inspired Bell because of their work and unique style. 

    Bell’s favorite piece displays beautiful mailboxes. She said, “The main reason I painted them was I just liked how common they were, I thought their form was interesting and I wanted to almost bring them to life.” The texture through brushstrokes, the looseness and expressionistic style make this painting Bell’s favorite. 

     She said, “My hope is that I will continue to pursue art in the future. I would love to go to a college where I could explore more areas of art and pursue it even further.” However, Bell also enjoys volleyball, skiing, kayaking and backpacking. 

    Karma May and Otis Aiello are some of Hellgate’s senior artists who found their artistic passion and hope to continue their incredible talent as careers. May said, “I’ve been drawing all of my life. When I was little, like toddler age, I used to make paintings on butcher paper with tempera, and I’d doodle little stick figure dogs. I was always the kid that did the drawings on posters for school, and doodled on assignments.” 

     May said that she’s always had a “natural inclination to draw and paint” but that she started to take it more seriously when she became a freshman in high school. May said, “I used to stay in during recess to draw pictures of rats, and I’d sit down for 12 hour periods to do realistic pencil drawings to the best of my ability.” However, she has gradually made the switch to digital illustrations and experimenting with simple animations. 

     May said her artistic style tends to vary as she goes through different phases of what she enjoys and as her skill level progresses. She said, “I went through a phase where I did realistic portraits, and now I prefer a more illustrative and cartoonish style. I really like abstractness in art with rough brush strokes and textures. Clean line art and smooth blending has never been my cup of tea, though I am very much in awe of the skill necessary to achieve it. I tend to paint digitally these days, but I also enjoy working with watercolor and pen & ink.” 

     Marco Bucci, David Peterson and Edward Gorey are children’s book and graphic novel artists who inspired May. Growing up, May read many books by Gorey and she was also inspired by the styles in the animations from ‘Cartoon Saloon,’ ‘Don Bluth Studios’ and ‘Laika Studios’.  

     May explained she has been bouncing between different art careers for a while. She has wanted to be an animator, tattoo artist and most recently has set her sights on the idea of being a children’s book illustrator. She said, “I’ve been in the process of building a portfolio, while also trying to start up with freelance illustration.”

     Her favorite piece is a digital painting which portrays herself sitting with her cat, called ‘Snow Day.’ She said, “I’m very proud of the variety of texture and color I managed in it. I got the idea for it when we had that snow day, just after winter break, and I imagined myself cozy with my cat. I also have some traditional pieces done in art classes, which will be appearing in the Mall art show in the spring.” 

     Outside of drawing, May loves cooking and playing Dungeons and Dragons. Be sure to check out her art account on Instagram @karmamayart. It displays her best and most recent art pieces as she experiments with different styles. 

     Aiello has already been accepted to the Pacific Northwest College of Arts in Portland and plans to apply to the Stamps School off of University of Michigan along with the Rhode Island School of Design. They plan to major in animation or illustration, in addition to continuing their gymnastics career at University of Michigan, as they are a level 10 gymnast at Roots Acro Sports Center. 

     Aiello first got into art because their mom has a masters in art and teaches art at CS Porter. They have always enjoyed art, but as Aiello moved into high school they began to enjoy it more and more. Aiello said, “I focus mainly on animation and illustration. I really enjoy digital art and cartooning. They are just fun mediums to play in and have so many opportunities for just fun!” 

     Aiello was inspired by many artists, people online and friends. They said, “Movies as well are very inspiring, such as ‘Luca,’ ‘I Lost My Body,’ ‘The House’ and ‘Into The Spider-Verse.’ They all show what can be done with animation on a big scale and they are stunning. My biggest influence though is a Youtube channel called Drawfee: a group of 4 illustrators that have a wide variety of styles and skills, as well as being funny.” 

      Aiello has many incredible art pieces, but their favorites include a skeleton “ripping free from their mortal flesh” and another piece “based on the concept of complexity and contradiction.” The house-like piece was for one of Aiello’s college applications. It was inspired by an architecture and philosophy book by Robert Venturi, based upon the post-modernism movement. It conveys the idea of being against modernism and simplicity. Aiello’s second piece portrays a skeleton in a one-panel comic. It has a “mundane caption but a kind of surreal and body horror picture to match.” 

     Be sure to check out @_0ats_ on Instagram to see more of their incredible work and new pieces as Aiello continues their art career.  

     Hellgate has a huge array of talented artists, and these are just a few of them. Many of these students’ artwork will be displayed around the school, so next time you’re walking around the halls of Hellgate, pause for a minute to fully take in the beautiful pieces of art.