Lincoln High School graduate Ella Ratliff said she never took her doodles seriously until she took an advanced college-level art class in school that was “a trial by fire” for her, she said. Earlier, she was planning on a career in music.
Now, Ratliff is a two-time recipient of one of the most prestigious in the country, the Scholastic Art and Writing Award.
“I first started making art back in my sophomore year of high school, which was two or three years ago,” Ratliff said.
She said the college-level advanced art class she took in school back then really jump started her career. This year, she will be attending the Minneapolis College of Art Design majoring in studio work.
Before that, she was planning on continuing playing tuba professionally. However, two gold medals and two American Visions Awards from the nation’s longest-running recognition program for creative teens set her on a completely different path.
Ratliff first entered the competition in 2021, and she won a gold medal and an American Vision Award, which is for a person whose art piece was selected to represent the whole state. These two awards, Ratliff said, should have secured her place on a trip to New York. However, at that time, the usual ceremony was not held because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, Ratliff repeated her achievement in March and recently went to New York with her family to participate in the award ceremony at Carnegie Hall, where she met creative peers that was “a boost” for her artistic drive,” that gave her “all this energy to create even more.”
“I got to meet a ton of really cool artists, and it was a really validating experience for both me and my art,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff fundraised for her trip to New York through commissions of the pet portraits for the community. She said it was a fun and nice way to fundraise and also get some exposure.
In the future, she hopes to become a full-time self-employed artist or a college-level art instructor to be able to pass on her positive life experiences onto others through art.
“I make art now just because I love it, I want to make a career out of it,” Ratliff said.
