Designer of the winning poster for the Homecoming contest, Delta Art Fair winner, Dixon Art Gallery vendor and more: Zack Lageman (12) does it all.
Lageman got her start as an artist by watching art videos as a child with the support of her parents. Her art journey has since had its fair share of ups and downs, eventually leading her to the art classrooms of White Station High School (WSHS). Lageman took Pre-AP Visual Art her sophomore year and is taking AP Studio Art this year.
“I first started [art] when I was really young,” Lageman said. “It was kinda like something I grew up with, just creative media that my family really supported. They wanted me to be an artist, but for some reason as a child I was like ‘No, I’m not doing art as a career. No, I refuse to.’ Now I’m more open to doing art as a career. I’ve just always [done] art and always watched art videos — it was like one of my main forms of entertainment — and so, growing up, I kept on pursuing it. There were a lot of times where I took breaks from it [because] I just was stressed and couldn’t do it, and I felt like I wasn’t good enough at it to really be competitive or make [art] into a career, which is what I was pursuing. But starting high school … [during] sophomore year I [took] Ms. Peterson’s class, Pre-AP Visual Art. She allowed us a lot of freedom but it was also guided freedom. We had an assignment with … a theme and we’ll do [the assignment] based on [the theme]. It really let me explore [without] feeling too restrictive.”
Since childhood, Lageman has worked mostly with acrylic paint. In AP Studio Art, Lageman fits her art around her concentration, which consists of acrylic paintings on large canvases. She hopes to complete 10 pieces in her concentration by the end of this year.
“I usually use acrylic [paint, as] I’ve kinda grown up using acrylic so it’s like my comfort zone,” Lageman said. “So, I usually use acrylic on really big canvases. … I [also] do digital work but that’s more [for] branding for like [my] sticker business and stuff like that … or like if I’m planning out a design, like for the senior merch, I did that traditional and then transferred it into my Ipad and did it on Procreate and finished up the design. I work in other mediums too, just not as often.”
Previously, Lagmean painted mostly landscapes but has since transitioned to portraits of herself and her friends and family. Similarly to artist Camila Salinas, Lageman sometimes combines several photos to create references for her paintings. Lageman finds inspiration in a variety of artists, including Salinas, but especially those who explore emotion through their art. Furthermore, Lageman’s art combines realism with unique perspectives to explore her feelings and themes like growing up through her art.
“One … [inspiration] would be Vincent [Van Gogh],” Lagemen said. “I really like how he expresses his sorrow through [his art], like all his emotions are expressed through his paintings. It feels like this rush of emotion and I try to have that, like see what I can do to get my point across to my audience through my paintings. I also have a YouTuber [Camila Salinas] … that I really love watching. She’s around my age, but she’s in college and she got into [Rhode Island School of Design] [with a] full scholarship and she does a lot of art that’s expressive, and she works with acrylic — her main [medium] is acrylic and I’m really inspired by her.”
More recently, Lageman helped design the winning poster for the Football Homecoming poster contest and designed the Class of 2025 senior merch. For the senior merch, Lagmean drew inspiration from objects that were significant during her time at WSHS and combined them into a collage-style piece that was voted on by the senior class.
“It goes back to when I went to Rhodes [College] for Mock Trial Academy,” Lageman said. “I got this tote bag that had this collage of different monuments and different significant things to Rhodes on it. And so I doodled different significant things, like one of the things on there is the tree in front of the freshman academy. And like coming from freshman year to senior year the tree has kinda been like the meeting spot for each year. It honestly was a rough draft. I submitted it because my friends were like, ‘You have to submit it’ like I was kinda forced to submit it. But people voted for it so I was so happy for that and they seem to really enjoy it, a lot of my friends have bought [the senior merch] and I like to see it around school.”
Outside of art, Lageman is part of the White Station mock trial team and the Memphis Youth City Council. Both activities are evidence of LAgeman’s interest for a future career in law.
“I do Mock Trial, and I also do Memphis Youth City Council as the Legal Analyst on their board,” Lageman said. “We work to help bridge the gap between the youth and the people that are running the systems around them and try and bring those resources back to the youth and bridge the communication [gap], because there’s not that much [communication] there. A lot of my time does go to that because I’m a board member, but I really enjoy it, it’s a very good experience.”
Lageman has previously sold her art as a vendor at the Dixon Art Gallery as well as online. In the past, Lageman has also sold crochet flowers, keychains, prints and stickers and has ideas for new sticker sheets as well. Moving forward, Lageman hopes to pursue a career in law, but she has no intention of giving up art.
Instead, Lageman hopes to continue selling her art in college and potentially sell paintings as a side job afterward.
“I want to do law,” Lageman said. “I’ve always wanted to do something kinda business-y and it kinda went into law somehow. I’m looking at [going into copyright, corporate or entertainment] law. I’ll try and do a side business … in art, like sell paintings as a hobby, kinda set up for retirement. I have a business … I do like stickers and … clay charms, and I ended up selling it at Dixon Art Gallery; they had a teen exhibit gallery that me and some of my friends did at the time. … I actually did really well … It was an amazing experience, I think I made like 180-200 [dollars] for the two hours [I was there].”
