Killeen, TX/2022: Early College High School students expressed their creative side Friday during a Night of the Arts featuring a variety of literary, visual and musical art.

Students, school staff members and family walked across three levels of the Texas A&M University-Central Texas Heritage Hall taking in the student-created pieces.

English teacher Chad Pettit, the event organizer thanked those in attendance and praised students for putting their expressive works on display.

Not far from the front door of the venue, a life-sized sculpture drew attention.

The work of sophomore Nex Tucker, “Finding Perspective,” was a sculpture the young artist put all of herself into.

ECHS student artist displays clay sculpture

She wanted to express the tendency the past two years of getting lost in the news of the day and falling into isolation.

“We can get so caught up in news and social media that we don’t take care of ourselves,” Tucker explained. “We don’t realize the mess we can make.”

She attempted first to make a sculpture of a person from yarn and glue but found that duct tape worked better and resulted in a more messy, trashy look that served her purpose more effectively.

The young artist covered herself in gray duct tape and with her mom’s help cut herself out and stitched up the life-sized figure of herself.

The duct tape person slumped on a platform with empty snack wrappers strewn about and a black box television with the word “error” on it.

“I love it,” she said of the Early College art night. “I was nervous to display my work because I’ve seen the artists we have on campus, but I’m glad I did it.”

Another sculpture that drew attention featured a dual-faced clay girl inspired by the animated movie “Coraline.”

Freshman Jessica Reesman used clay, yarn and wood to explore the concept of a supposedly perfect self slowly deforming into her own insecurities.

Thinking through different sculpture subjects, “she just popped into my mind,” the artist said of the movie character. “I wanted to see how far I could take it.”

She began with the idea of creating more of a body, but when the clay didn’t hold, Reesman liked the jagged effect of the cut-off neck.

“I can’t draw, but I like clay,” she said. “Being able to create in 3D is so awesome to me.”

The Night of the Arts included works of student-written poetry, as well as digital art. Several students read their original works.

“Our school doesn’t have a lot of what other schools have,” Reesman said. “It’s great to be able to outreach into the community and show our talent beyond our brains.”