Xiomara Torres has always loved art and wants a career in the field, so she’s excited to be starting the new school as incoming president of the National Art Honor Society at St. Croix Central High School.
The Source interviewed Torres at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts as she glazed a clay tile she designed in the smART Summer Institute, sponsored by the V. I. Council on the Arts.
Torres was chosen by Kristin Duncan, her art teacher at Central, to give her input on what should be taught in the newly instituted program. The students came up with an island current events theme drawing and painting pictures about crime, sustainable agriculture, tourism and the environment. Torres designed the program recruitment poster and a poster for the culminating art show.
The tiles she created were part of a larger installation that will be mounted on a wall. Her two, raised, relief tiles depict a Caribbean cottage and blooming Ginger Thomas. Torres has also done a very detailed pencil drawing of farmers working in their vegetable gardens. It was displayed in an “Art With a Message Summer Exhibition” art show Saturday at the museum in Frederiksted.
Nora Howell, smART program director, said Torres is an innovative thinker and shows silent but strong leadership.
The 17 years-old Torres says she can remember drawing outdoors in the dirt with a stick when she was a little girl. Her parents, Beatriz and Wilfredo Torres, noticed her talent and gave her encouragement and all the art supplies she wanted.
“I loved to ride around and look at pretty houses when I was little,” Torres says. “I was fascinated with the designs. After college I want to come back home and design affordable housing.”
She is taking architectural design and drafting classes at St. Croix Career and Technical Education Center, and is in the Technical Honor Society at St. Croix Educational Complex.
She says after she takes her SATs she will apply to Pratt Art Institute in New York and a couple of other colleges.
“I will start at a firm and some day maybe have my own firm,” Torres says. “I may do some interior design too.”
The soft-spoken, petite, young lady with a charming smile says she likes to spend time drawing and helping others.
“I just like to help people in their daily lives with daily needs,” Torres says. “My parents taught me to reach out and be caring and helpful.” She says she has a sense of when someone needs something. “It makes people happy to know someone cares about them,” she added. She writes stories and songs of encouragement with happy endings to life issues.
When asked about her plans for her term, she says she hopes to get the students’ art noticed and showcased in the community. She added it would be nice to have students paint more murals in the community and get more community support for the arts.
Duncan says Torres will make a great president of NAHS.
“She brings fresh energy, big ideas and enthusiasm,” Duncan says. “As a student she is always helpful, cooperative, and excited about projects.” She added Torres constantly has a positive outlook on every aspect of life. “She is literally one of those people who lights up a room whenever she enters. She has so much energy and it’s infectious,” Duncan says. Torres always sees the best in people and always encourages other students in their efforts, never looking for accolades herself.
