In all parts of the world, people are moved by art. In fact, it has been said that “everything is art.” If people take the time to look around and appreciate everything around them, they will find that art is around them everywhere, in nature and manmade things alike.

At Allen Community College, in a small but beautiful art studio, the most creative and spontaneous students practice their skills and let their ideas fly out of their minds and their artwork talk for them.

People are born with at least a touch of art in their minds. But like everything in life, some people need someone to guide their path and help them reach their goal, and art is no exception.

In the Allen art studio, Tera Reed is the one who helps her students express themselves artistically, without boundaries. Reed is a young art instructor from Chanute, Kan., who discovered her passion for art when she was little. As a young girl she discovered that she had skills for what she loved and got an art scholarship after high school. She went  to Crowder College in Nevada, Mo., and then to Pittsburg State University, where she earned her master’s degree. She has lived what is the dream of a lot of artists, going to Europe to study art in Spain and Italy.

This is Reed’s fourth year at Allen and she likes it very much. The most interest she has in art is probably art history, she said, and she particularly likes painting with water oils. However, she loves all branches of art, because, as she says, “Everything is art.” Duchamp, Pollock and Jeff Coons are just some of the artists Reed admires, and she dreams about curating art and someday working in a art gallery.

As any great teacher, she encourages her students to find their best side, and for those who aren’t her students, she says “There are a lot of students who aren’t interested in art not because they don’t like it, but because they don’t think art is for them,  but art has a place for everybody so I tell everybody to try to find their artistic side and to look for something they feel comfortable with.”

ART PIECES are only as important as who made them, and there is no art without a bright and creative mind.

Among Allen’s art students, Maryiah Cavender is one of those bright creative minds who likes to create art.  Cavender is young woman from Moran, Kan., that has loved art since she was a little girl, but she started getting involved with art when she was 16 years old. Her uncle is an artist and had a gallery where she watched him work, and that’s where she got her motivation to get into the art world.

Cavender started working on art when she was in high school and as a freshman at Allen she is studying to be an art teacher. She loves painting; her favorite tools to work with are graphite and pastels, and she enjoys working on portraits. She hopes to transfer to Emporia State University to finish her education after Allen.