ARTS facilities

B Bingham “Main Stage” Theater

B Band Room

B Choral Room

B Digital Recording Studio in the Bristol Music Room

B Electronic Music Studio

B Gail Wynne Sculpture and Ceramics Studio

B Mark W. Potter Art Gallery

B Multimedia Computer Lab

B Music Practice Rooms

B Pailey Dance Studio

B Photography Dark Rooms

B Printmaking and Fabric Design Spaces

B Tremaine Arts Studio

B Video Production Laboratory and Classroom

B Walker Hall Performance Venue

B Woodward “Black Box” Theater

B Woodward Chapel Performance Venue

Meet Natasha

HOMETOWN: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA AND HONG KONG

PASSION: PAINTING

COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Natasha loves to paint, and for good reason: Her natural talent is extraordinary. “I draw from life, so in that sense I have a realistic painting style, but I like to play with color to make it more my own.” The art courses Natasha took at Taft helped shape her experience here while igniting her passion for art. Natasha brought that passion to an interdisciplinary independent study project during her junior and senior years. “I’ve investigated why people who express themselves through art (both visual and literary) choose one medium over another,” she says. “Last year I studied Monet and Degas. This year, I applied my research to my own preferred forms of artistic expression.” The result: “I reached the conclusion that when I draw something, I’m collecting information outside of myself. When I write, I’m looking inside of myself, in a way that allows me to anchor my feelings and emotions.”

Meet Kaedi

HOMETOWN: BRONX, NEW YORK

PASSION: MUSIC, PERFORMING

COLLEGE: CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Kaedi began singing when she was five or six years old, mostly in school and church choirs. By the time she was 11, music had become her passion. Her voice is pure, smooth, controlled, and soothing. When she sings, everyone stops to listen. And by everyone, we mean thousands of people in sold-out arenas across the United States and Canada: Kaedi is part of the all-female a cappella group Citizen Queen, who recently opened for Pentatonix on their world tour. Kaedi’s a cappella career started at Taft as a member of Hydrox. Then, with support from Taft’s Kilbourne Summer Enrichment Fund, Kaedi traveled to Los Angeles to participate in the 10-day A Cappella Academy during two consecutive high school summers. Only 13 percent of the high-school-aged students who auditioned for a spot at the Academy were accepted in the first year, fewer than 10 percent the second. “It definitely shaped the way I define a cappella today, making me realize the authenticity of creating music with just your voice,” Kaedi says. While at Taft, she also sang with the gospel choir, was a frequent cast member in Taft musicals, and a go-to soloist and co-head chorister in Taft’s showcase chorus, Collegium Musicum. “The Arts program here allowed me to discover different sides of my voice that I didn’t necessarily know were within me. I learned to embrace all these vocal styles, and add them to my vocal resume. My time at Taft definitely helped me to mature my voice; I have better vocal control and better vocal delivery now.”