Time For Tai

By Will Kodner

You paint brush strokes on canvas with precision and concentration. After about four hours, you have a fully formed squash painting of your dogs while listening to Vulfpeck. Sound familiar? Probably not. But to Moore, this may not seem too askew from a normal day. From french horn rehearsal to curling practice, Michigan native Tai Moore paints to express herself, make her way to higher education and more.

Prior to her discovery of her prodigal artistic skills, Moore’s inspiration began in architecture back in Michigan.

“There are a lot of things like the Henry Herbert [museum] that we visited in middle school and that made me like architecture. Then as I grew up, it changed from architecture to liking art more,” Moore said.

Moore has been painting for only three years and already has a myriad of pieces in the senior art gallery. Moore gives her family a lot of credit for her success.

“The encouragement from my family, complimenting me every time I made art, made me want to do art even more,” Moore said.

Although Moore has only been painting for three years, she already has a grasp on how to deal with struggle.

“There’s always going to be a lot of rough patches when you’re trying to make art. Every time I make art, there’s always that one time where you just think ‘oh, this looks really bad, I don’t think it’s going to look any better’,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of times where I just give up art because of that. Sometimes you just gotta push through the ugly and it will eventually look like something that you’re happy with.”

While “Deconstructed” takes the cake for the largest project in the senior art show, her humility for the other artists is admirable.

“I think Mate Daus and Max Yang have a lot of really good pieces... [Daus is] really into animation and I see the animations on the TV at the art show and it takes a lot to not only make the animation, but to make a really nice one,” Moore said.

For Moore, her art endeavors will not end after high school. Moore plans to attend Washington University Saint Louis in the fall and wants to major in studio art or design communication. Although Moore’s funny and sarcastic demeanor may be all that meets the eye, Moore’s interpretation of art goes beyond the surface.

“A lot of what I say is usually stereotypical like what a lot of artists say. [It’s] kind of like journaling, as a way to not only express myself but to understand things,” Moore said.