As she sits in focus at a desk, bottles upon bottles of paint scatter junior Summer Wetherbee’s workspace in varying shades, soon to appear in mixtures and swoops on the canvas beneath her brush. Different sized brushes lay dormant beside her, waiting to be picked up and dipped in a vat of water and paint to add to her project.

Summer’s relative sees the family-wide potential for artistry in her and snaps a picture.

Summer’s family is highly involved in artistry. Her brother owns his own graphic design business, Wetherbee Creative Company, where he designs logos for mainly Christian bands. Summer’s cousin has gone through the art program at the school she may want to attend someday, Taylor University, and enjoyed it there. Her sisters both participate in the art of calligraphy, one of them has designed wedding invitations before.

A large influence on Summer as an artist is her aunt, a talented painter based out of Chicago. She has her own art studio in her house, and Summer spends summers with her, learning art styles and skills to help her in her artistic abilities.

“If I could be even half as good as my aunt, I would be satisfied,” Summer said. “She’s super good.”

With most of Summer’s family involved in art, she has a strong support system in anything art-related she chooses to do.

Her family holds strong beliefs in going into a career one actually enjoys doing rather than something that will bring in a big check.

“You don’t want to wake up every day and hate what you do just because you like making good money,” Summer said.

Summer plans on going into some form of art in her future and attending college to do so. She is considering previously mentioned Taylor University in Indiana, as well as Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.

Currently, she is experimenting with all forms of creativity through school exploratories as to test her artistic interests and see what she’s truly interested in to proceed with as a career.

Summer knows she does not want to become a painter or any basic artist, she wants to take her artistic knowledge and apply it to something else, more of a career path. Something like architecture, interior design, or photography where artistic abilities are used with other skills to create.

“I would be incredibly proud of Summer should she choose a career in art,” mother Karen Wetherbee said. “I believe that when the Lord gives us a gift, it is for the purpose of sharing with others. Summer will be successful in whichever career she pursues.”

The support of her family and her relationship with God are strong motivators for Summer, and she is optimistic about her future in art.

Money is not an influence for her, but rather the love she has for what she does will help her decide what she wants to do.

“You gotta find your passion, and somehow, God will make it work out,” Wetherbee said.