School Bulletin: Art student draws attention to climate change

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Cedarburg High School senior aims to make a statement through art, and she's combining two of her passions.

"I just always kind of been interested in protecting the environment," Miriam Janssen-Hayes says. "I want to show that through my art."

As an Advanced Placement (AP) Studio Art student, Janssen-Hayes is creating an entire portfolio all about climate change.

"My theme is interactions between humans and the environment," Janssen-Hayes says. "One of the pieces I just did was of someone's hands eating… It's a fish on the plate, but there's pieces of plastic in it. It shows how we're polluting the oceans and fish are eating plastic."

The Cedarburg student says she's been painting since she was about 2-years-old, but she has developed more finesse and her own style.

"Just to watch her art take on more meaning has been really interesting and rewarding," Brooke Janssen, the girl's mother, says.

The teenager's artwork has been featured in several places, including a brochure from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She took a pre-college course there over the summer, but she it's her high school teachers who have been the most encouraging.

"My art teachers in high school have just been really incredible. Always very supportive and pushing me to really do my best," Janssen-Hayes says.

She adds her classes have allowed her to dabble in different mediums, like ceramics, and even big scale pieces, like the stage sets for the theater department.

After graduation this spring, Janssen-Hayes says she will study art education at the University of Minnesota. She says she wants to be a teacher and mentor to other students.