COLORING INSIDE THE LINES MIGHT SOUND SIMPLE AND EASY TO ADULTS, BUT BEING ABLE TO DO SO AS A 5-YEAROLD IS DOWNRIGHT IMPRESSIVE.
“When I was 5, I started coloring in coloring pages, and I was so proud of myself that I would stay in the lines, and my brothers were like, ‘Oh my goodness, you’re so good at that!” Mara Flesner said. “Then I started getting paint stuff for Christmas and started painting. I became really good at it from practicing a lot.”
Flesner, 13, was recently awarded a $500 grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council that will go toward art supplies and, better, yet private art lessons with artist in residence SammiJo Miller, a mixedmedial artist. The award recognizes Flesner’s dedication and talent as a young artist and provides her with new opportunities to grow her skills.
“We’re going to do private art lessons for about six months,” said Miller, who in 2021 launched SJMIller Arts, a mobile art studio. “This is to help her improve her skills she wants to work on.”
“I think it’s very crazy,” Flesner said about getting the grant and being able to work with her mentor in a one-onone setting. “It’s definitely a big honor. It’s just amazing.”
Flesner has been a regular at Miller’s art camps since she started them in 2021.
“She’s been coming to classes, doing art camps — she’s been a big help, sometimes even volunteering to do things like the parade with us,” said Miller, a third-generation artist. “She just has the attention to detail. She was always drawing things different from her age group, and seeking outside subject matters and mediums outside of what’s normal for her age group. Those are the kids that have a knack for it.”
Flesner is adept at taking artistic direction as well, Miller said. She has the unique ability to take suggestions or new techniques from Miller and apply them on her own.
The daughter of Nathan and Christina, Flesner, who is into karate and baking besides art, is homeschooled in Tracy and being one of three similarly-active siblings, there is always something going on in the Flesner home.
“Most of the time we’re very busy, so a lot of the time I’ll just sit in my room whenever I have the time and just do art,” Flesner said.
