Featured artist was inspired at a young age

The Four County Art Guild’s featured artist is Weiser High School junior Mja Towner. Towner is the daughter of Noa and Eric Towner.
 Towner cannot remember specifically when she first found her love for art. She knows it was from when she was a little girl and probably started before she can remember.
 She does remember that when she was in Pioneer Elementary School she was obsessed with drawing horses. She drew horses of all kinds, shapes, and colors. She remembers drawing them and also doodling them on the backs of quizzes and her homework.
 In third grade, when her parent teacher conferences came around at the end of the year, her teacher, Michelle Srholec, had saved every doodle of a horse that she had done that year.
 Towner said that being a student with art skills has its ups and downs because she always does well on poster projects but also often ends up helping others do theirs.
 Right now, Towner’s favorite medium of art is painting. She finds the work satisfying when she is able to see the finished project,  but she also loves how you can cover up mistakes.
 Sometimes, it even takes Towner awhile to see her mistakes, but she’s willing to give it time. Her horse painting on display took her over a year because she could not figure out what it needed, but she knew it wasn’t right.
 She kept adding more color but it wasn’t having the effect she wanted, so she let it sit in her room and thought about it.
 Eventually, the idea came to her to add more white to the picture instead of more color. This was the trick and she was able to finish it and it became one of her favorite paintings.  
 Towner has won multiple awards for her drawing, including “May the mental health force be with you” drawing competition. She has also won multiple awards and ribbons at fair, including best in show for everything from drawing and painting to cake decorating.
 While Towner has sold her paintings at hospital bazaars, for the most part she has not tried to market her artwork beyond family members.
 “I mostly give my work away as presents or gifts,” Towner said.
 Other than painting, Towner is also currently enjoying the ceramics class at Weiser High School.
 Teacher Rod Walker shared that she is very good at visualizing all three dimensions when working on a sculpture and more willing to try something to see how it looks than most young artists.
 “She’s fearless. She visualizes ideas that most students can’t grasp and then she is willing to try new techniques, and color combinations. She’s not afraid of making a mistake,” Walker said.
 Towner sometimes gets her inspiration from people in her real life, but usually it would be hard to tell that from an outsider. She might have a friend who makes her think of a lion or a loved one that inspires her to paint a gorilla with glasses. She uses art as an avenue to see the world differently.
 “Art is something that gets my mind off of life and just be in my zone,” Towner said.
 Towner was extremely surprised by being chosen as the featured artist, as she did not even really know that her name was really out there for being an artist.
 While Towner plans to continue to pursue arts and crafts as a hobby after high school, she hopes to attend the Naval Academy and pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon.