Student artist of the month: Sylvia Schreiber ’26

As a child, Sylvia Schreiber ’26 would sit at the dining room table for hours, happily doodling with crayons. Though she’s transitioned from crayons to watercolor and gouache, the importance of art in her life has stayed the same. In her time at PHS, her illustration work has included t-shirts, programs, and this year’s school-issued planner. She’s currently compiling pieces for her portfolio as part of applications to art school, where she hopes to further expand her artistic abilities, preparing her to eventually work as an artist professionally.

What childhood experiences shaped you as an artist?

I remember when I was little my mom would put me to bed and then I’d get up and turn my light on and start drawing — I was trying to copy the cover of one of my picture books because I loved it so much. And then my mom would come and be like, “Sylvia, go to bed.” Picture books really inspired me to create art when I was younger.

What are you drawn to depicting in your art?

Anything in the natural world is my go-to. I like things with patterns, so obviously nature has a lot of patterns, but also architecture ... I like to push myself to draw new things a lot of times, but I would say nature is a big one ... I feel like the repetitive motion of drawing the same thing over and over again is definitely calming.

What mediums do you work with?

I work in 2D mostly; that’s what I’m most comfortable in. But within that, I do a lot of stuff. Drawing, painting, and printmaking are the three that I do the most. I love watercolor.

Are there any mediums that you’re experimenting with right now?

I’m trying to do more printmaking. I really like printmaking. I’ve been doing some classes at the Arts Council on linocut and stuff like that, and I think why I like it kind of ties back to the patterns — you can print it over and over again. And I just like the look of print making, so I’m trying to do more of that right now in my portfolio and just also for fun.

What are some of your inspirations and influences?

My sister, just her being in art school and all of her friends, I follow them all on Instagram and I get to see all of their amazing work and sometimes I’ll take an idea from there ... Having my sister in art school is really cool to see, because it’s, like, whoa, that could be where I am in a couple years. Barbara de Lorenzo, she works at the Arts Council ... She illustrates children’s books, and she mostly works in watercolor, so she’s helped me a lot with my watercolor abilities. When I paint with watercolor, I’m channeling Barbara DiLorenzo. She’s definitely helped me grow as an artist.

What’s your artistic process?

I have a sketchbook at home that’s really just whatever comes out ... A lot of times, when I’m feeling like I want to do something art-related, I’ll just sit down with that and just write or draw, or do whatever is inspiring me at the moment; I’ll try to get it down on paper ... So then when I know what I’m going to do for my project, it comes with some trial and error ... So I do a lot of practice sketching. And then I’ll try to see if I have materials at home or if I need to get some from the Arts Council ... You just have to start and challenges always arise ... It’s kind of inevitable that at some point, you’re going to be like, this is terrible. But more times than not, it’s not terrible and you just need to work through it.

What goals do you have for yourself in your art in the future?

I want to get into an art college and I want to just enjoy that to the best of my ability without having to think too much about what exactly I’m going to do with art after college. I just want to really explore my own style and develop my own style as an artist ... Even as art becomes my work, I also want to just keep enjoying it.