Photos by Ethan Roubenoff

Junior Georgiana Pagounis unrolls a thick scroll of paper and gingerly presses it flat on the table. It is a drawing of a shirt, done in charcoal. The lines are sculpted with a surgeon’s precision, and the depth of the shading makes it look like an actual shirt lying on the table in front of her. It is clear that although this is just a drawing of a piece of clothing, this is Pagounis on a piece of paper.

“I did this project two years ago,” Pagounis said. “I was drawing a shirt. I took another art class this summer and we had to draw a shirt again, in charcoal — the same medium — and it just came out so much better looking.”

She smiled as she looked at the more recent version in front of her.

“I’m proud of that,” she said.

Pagounis stands alone: she is the only one among her friends and family to venture into the world of art.

“It’s pretty cool, because I get to see a whole new talent that I don’t have,” her friend junior Alina Shafranskaya said. “She’s always drawing, sketching.”

Pagounis’ interest in art started out with doodling as a child and grew with only herself supporting it. It was not until later in life that she recognized her talent and pursued it.

“I never took art classes until the summer after eighth grade, when I took a class at Boston University,” Pagounis said. “It was for visual arts, so we had a drawing class, a painting class and a sculpture class.”

Pagounis said that although working with sculptures is not something she enjoys, the rest of the program solidified her interest in art as a profession.

According to Pagounis, being the only artist of her friends and family has also given her the opportunity to teach informally.

“None of my friends are artistically talented at all, or my sisters, so I usually help people when they need it,” Pagounis said.

Being the first artist of her family and friend also makes her want to share her knowledge and abilities around, Pagounis said.

“I’m hoping that I actually do go to Boston University,” she said. “I want to major in Art Education and possibly minor in graphic design.”

She was offered a job at Soule Recreation, an early childhood education center, to teach art to children.

Pagounis said that despite her positive outlook on her future as an artist, Pagounis said she has had tough experiences in art classes at the high school.

“It wasn’t great because they made me start in Drawing 1,” she said. “Apparently you can’t just jump to a higher level here. So it was kind of boring for me. I didn’t learn anything new.”

Boston University drawing professor Jill Grimes said Pagounis is an incredibly promising student with rare talent.

“She stands out as a really enthusiastic student,” Grimes said. “She’s incredibly committed to her work and shows an incredible potential.”

Pagounis is very excited about new artists starting off and encourages them all to work hard at their passion.

“Just practice,” she said. “As long as you keep doing stuff over and over again you’ll get good at it. If you start out with no art skills, you can get art skills. It’s not something you’re born with.”

Ethan Roubenoff can be contacted at [email protected]