Art and Tech Come Together

Art and Tech Come Together

In the same week the world celebrated women in science, Victoria McBroom ’21 earned Best of Show in the Valor Arts Show for her animatronics piece she affectionately calls Crouton.

“I’ve done a lot with mixed media through my art classes at Valor, but I really wanted to create a piece that moved,” she explains. So she worked with STEM teacher Mr. Rick Russon to help her incorporate a model aircraft servo body and a rotating platform.

Fabricated from chicken wire, foam and fur, Victoria loved creating her cat, but says the key ingredient to success was time, research and patience with the animatronics venture.

“I wanted to create something that requires large amounts of time and trial-and-error because it’s my senior year, and I thought I should set big goals for myself,” Victoria explains, still tinkering with the wiring in Crouton.

Through her years of creating and executing art projects, including shoes on wheels called Chreelys, custom branded athletic shoes and pieces for a virtual pop-up shop, Victoria shares the insight she’s gained to help her through life.

“All of this has helped me realize that time management and failing fast is super important. If you don’t fail, you won’t learn anything, and if you don’t fail fast you may not have time to find a better solution,” she smiles.

Great insight from this student and artist with a curiosity for trying new things and using each of her experiences to propel herself onward! See more about Victoria and Crouton on her Spark page.