Paducah Tilghman High School senior Jenna Price finds painting can be an escape.
For her, it’s “boundless” and you can do almost anything with it.
“I’ve always drawn as long as I can remember,” she said. “I’d probably say end of middle school is whenever I started getting into painting, specifically, and after I went to Governor’s School for the Arts ... It was there that I just realized that painting was for me.
“Being surrounded by all these people that are doing the same things and have the same interests, and I also got to try a lot of different mediums, and it just felt right.”
The 17-year-old artist has already garnered recognition, including a first place finish in Yeiser Art Center’s “Teen Spirit” exhibition in 2019. She won a Paducah School of Art & Design scholarship from her entries and received Paducah Tilghman’s annual art student award in junior year.
People are her favorite subjects to train her brushes on.
“I love to paint — I’m not big on realism, but I do like to add realistic elements, so I love for people to just become captured in it,” she said. “I like for them to stare at it for a while and come up with their own meaning behind it, I guess.”
Price, daughter of Julie and G. Kent Price of Paducah, is the Paducah Bank Teen of the Week.
Every Monday and Tuesday, The Sun publishes profile stories on area high school seniors chosen from a group of nominees for Teen of the Week recognition. Around the end of the school year, a committee names one of these students as Teen of the Year, which carries a $5,000 scholarship. Another student will receive the Inspiration Award and a $1,000 scholarship.
At Paducah Tilghman, Price ranks among the top of the class and has earned a 4.365 weighted cumulative GPA. She received a 32 composite ACT score and AP Scholar with Distinction recognition. Additionally, she’s a National Merit Commended Student and the school’s female nominee for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.
Price is a member of the school’s Sustainability Club and designed its logo. She’s part of National Honor Society, as well. As a trumpet player, she was a three-year member of the school marching, concert and pep bands. She picked up several Kentucky Music Educators Association honors, and also attended GSA for visual arts after her sophomore year.
In her free time, Price loves to bike and cook.
“I’m vegan, so I like to find new recipes and new ingredients and all that,” she said, “especially during quarantine, cooking has been a great thing for me.”
She’s currently staying busy with senior year work and college applications.
“So far, it’s been different but it’s different for everybody,” she added. “I’d say it’s going pretty well. My schedule feels a bit more specific to what I’m actually going to be doing, or hope to do, so that’s really good. It’s pretty stressful right now because of college applications, but it’s going well.”
Price is looking to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts, but she hasn’t yet decided on what college to attend. She hopes to take a gap year to volunteer abroad after graduation. She had planned to attend a two-month volunteer program in Sri Lanka this past summer, but was unable to due to COVID-19.
“College takes precedence,” she said. “If I can’t defer from wherever I choose then I would rather just go ahead and start my freshman year of college, for sure.”
By: Kelly Farrell