PARIS — Lucy Tardiff, a third-year student in Oxford Hills Technical School’s graphic design program, found herself struggling with “art block” last year, after hybrid learning and quarantines kept her home.

“I wasn’t able to make a lot of art, I was really frustrated,” she said. “It was not fun at all.”

When teacher Virginia Valdez asked her last fall to enter The New York Times art contest titled “What It’s Like to Be a Teenager Now: Coming of Age in 2021,” the creativity practically flew out of her fingers.

“The (contest) prompt was to draw what life is like in COVID and how it is to be a teenager,” Tardiff said.

“During that time I was locked in my room a lot. I wasn’t out and talking to people and I felt really bad,” she said. “I had a lot of stress, a lot of things I couldn’t do and more chores because I was always home. So I wanted to make it look as chaotic as possible and put into words the things I was feeling. And that’s how it ended up.”

Tardiff was one of 25 winners in The New York Times’ most recent student art contest, which had more than 4,000 entries.

“When I first finished it I felt a bit overwhelmed,” Tardiff said. “I was like, oh, that’s a lot of stuff going on. But when I think about it, it does showcase how I was in 2021. To be overwhelmed is the feeling I wanted to portray. Junior year was kind of a mess, with COVID going on.”

When Valdez texted her that she was one of the 25 winners, Tardiff said she was shocked. She said the other entries she saw were really good. But of all the others, hers was the only one that was a full graphics interchange format (scroll down about 2/3  of the page to see) and the only one that looked sketchy and black and white, relating the chaos of her feelings.

“I was surprised I was in the mix, honestly,” she said. “When you look at others’ work it always looks better, but you don’t know the process behind it so you’re just like, ‘wow.'”

Tardiff has always been drawn to art and started expressing herself through pen and ink sketching when she was in sixth grade. She has tried other mediums like digital art, photography and videography but has found she prefers drawing, mostly in simple black and white.

“I like the feeling I get from drawing on paper, I get more emotion out of it and can control it more,” she said.

She has created T-shirt designs since joining the technical school’s graphic design program, notably one the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School staff wore to honor Principal Ted Moccia last October during National Principals Month, and for the school’s upcoming Annual Tech Challenge.

After graduating from high school this spring, Tardiff’s first stop will be at Central Maine Community College in Auburn for continued art training. Her career goal is to become a tattoo artist.

“I love the idea of expressing your art on your body and use your body as a canvas for it,” she said. “You always have a piece of art on you. And being an artist, I love to draw on people and have them be able to show it off. I draw on my arms all the time.

“My mom is already trying to find opportunities for me (to learn tattooing),” she said. “Both of my parents are absolutely fine with me doing it. I’ll have to find an internship or an apprenticeship.”

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