With the COVID-19 pandemic leaving individuals stuck at home for months on end, sophomore Madeline Khoo has had plenty of time to explore her creative side. Digging deep into her own love for art, she finds herself drawing inspiration from her family, Youtube, and Pinterest. Motivation and free time combined, led Madeline to a productive self-exploration; one that unlocked a depth of artistic skill. Some of her skills include crocheting, embroidering, digital design, and sketching.

Mastering these skills does not come easily, it takes lots of practice: “I’ve been crocheting since I was seven,” said Khoo. With so many years of experience, she’s completed about 50 to 70 different crocheting projects; some of her proudest pieces being sweaters, plushies, and designer dupes.

Her crocheting journey began when she discovered YouTuber “Flying Mio” who uploaded videos of herself crocheting on the internet as well as influence from her aunt who also crochets. This sparked her interest in the art form and ever since then she continues to find inspiration through Pinterest, recreating popular pieces.

The longest time she spent on a crocheting project was about a week for a cardigan inspired by a $100 Hope Macaulay sweater. While most of Khoo’s pieces are used at her disposal, she once sold them at her 6th grade entrepreneur day where her hand-crocheted artwork quickly became a best-selling item, winning up to $100 in school currency.

While crocheting is one of her favorite art forms, it isn’t the only one; being as multifaceted as she is, Khoo’s artistic ability ranges farther than just crochet.

“More recently I’ve been doing a lot of digital art because it’s one of the things I have to do nowadays.” says Khoo.

She now designs digital art for both the division and district Key Club’s Instagram pages, making her a valuable asset to their media team.

“[For] the division there’s the beluga mascot, and then [for] the district there’s the bee mascot, so I draw those for them,” said Khoo.

With many different creative outlets, Khoo recalls what motivated her artistic side to begin with.

“Honestly, my family is very artistic. So, my cousin is kind of my biggest inspiration and she liked art a lot, and she was really good at it. And my mom is an architect, so she kind of does drawing as well.” said Khoo.

But by no means was this a familial pressure, she never looked back on her journey with art as an endeavor to master the “age old” family craft as a way to please others, but rather as a way for her to connect with her loved ones while perfecting a skill that she was intrigued by. While observing the artists around her inspired her love for art, the reason she continues to explore her creativity today is because of the rewarding feeling of looking at a handmade creation that took hard work and patience to perfect.

“I like being able to create something myself and say that I am proud of myself because [it’s] like, ‘Oh wow, I made that.’” said Khoo.