Student Art of the Week: LaNora Barber draws Trash Polka style tattoo

LaNora Barber

LaNora Barber’s TRASH POLKA style tree she made in Mr. Wallisch’s Art 2 class.

A senior at BPHS, LaNora Barber is not only one of the nicest persons ever, but one of the most artistically talented as well. She takes a range of art classes to help her further grow her gift, and outside of high school, she takes some college courses such as Modern Art History and Light Theory.

At BPHS, she takes Art 2 with Mr.Wallisch who is “the man,” as Barber said. “He is very supportive and helpful.”

Barber wants to go into tattooing in the future, and she wants to get an apprenticeship as soon as she can.

“Tattoos are more than just art. They help people in artistic ways, and that makes me so happy,” she said.

To Barber, art is everything. It’s where she can let out things that she can’t express in words. She wants to be a tattoo artist because she strives to use art to help people. 

Barber’s spotlight artwork is a beautifully implied tree, as she did not want it to be too precise. She became inspired with creating this when she was researching tattoos and came across the Trash Polka style. This took her many hours to complete, especially since she was using ink. Although Barber was nervous about making mistakes with the ink, it came out phenomenally. Her favorite part of her tree was the trunks because of the spiral motion.

She would call this piece, ‘Spiritus Morte,’ which means breath of death.

Some of Barber’s favorite artists consist of Banksy, Julia Razumova, and Qing Han. Barber said: “Banksy does art for what it truly is, to be seen. Not just for money. Razumova is a digital artist who puts her own style into creating people. Her own style is what makes the artwork. I strive to be like Han. She expresses herself and her messages in so many different ways, it is just speechless.”