Spreading awareness of her illustrative work in the book “The Lost Cat,” illustrator Mia Hershberger and author Barbara Brown held a book signing at Franconia Cafe on October 18.
Hershberger is a 2018 Souderton graduate.
Teachers can push students to discover their skills and break out of their shell. According to Hershberger, her teachers helped her discover her true passion for art and encouraged her in her endeavors.
“ I was pretty shy in high school, and the affirmation in teaching from my teachers,” said Hershberger, “[like art teachers Ginny] Perry and [Sue] Wright were very helpful in discovering that I have something worthwhile to share in my art.”
According to Hershberger, once you learn skills in school, teachers will give you a degree of freedom, and let you express your creativity freely. “When I got to Mrs. Wright’s class, it was more like you have all these skills, now let’s see what you can do with them. [I had] a lot more freedom in art class,” said Hershberger.
One of the key skills in being an artist is learning skills from teachers and superiors.
According to Hershberger teachers like Perry have helped with skills like that.
“Because the foundation of being a good artist is being a good draftsman,” Hershberger said. ”Mrs. Perry’s teaching helped with that.”
According to Hershberger’s mother, Jennifer, teachers can often see certain things within students and understand the deeper skills and passions of students.
“Mrs. Perry recognized [that] this is a student who’s a self-starter, and can be given free rein,” Jennifer said.
Hershberger said high school prepares its students for the real world and builds a lot of skills that will help them with their careers. As far as advice, Hershberger encourages aspiring artists to “just go for it.”
