Twelve-year-old Victorville resident Olivia Saavedra is making a name for herself in the High Desert artist community.
She was most recently selected as one of only four middle school students to have her artwork displayed on a utility box in the city of Victorville, but her portfolio of public art began years earlier.
Saaverdra has been an artist since she was about 4 years old, inspired, she says, by her talented quilter of a great-grandmother and her crafty mother.
Saaverda started her school career in the comfort of her home due to the pandemic. Her mom, Susannah Saaverdra, says they filled their downtime with every arts-and-crafts idea they could think of.
Instead of playing tag with the other kindergarteners, the homeschooled Olivia collected flowers in her yard for flower presses. She drew portraits with chalk instead of hopscotch grids with other first graders. Susannah said she had to get creative during the pandemic with five daughters at home.
At 10 years old, Olivia was selected by the Town of Apple Valley to paint a mural. She featured an interpretation of Martin Luther King’s message of equality on a 12-foot wall at the James Woody Community Center and Park.
At 11 years old, she was chosen by the San Bernardino County Museum curator of arts to have one of her paintings in the museum to represent Hispanic Heritage month. Olivia recently found out via a genealogy search that Pocahontas is her 13th great aunt and jumped at the opportunity to represent her Powhatan relative for the exhibit.
Now, her artwork will be displayed on a utility box on Ridgecrest Road in front of her younger siblings’ school, Endeavor Elementary School.
“It’s always fun when Olivia chooses to participate in art contests; her talents continue to surprise me,” Susannah said. “This time around, we didn’t even know about the contest until the night before. I just love that she’s a little growing artist.”
‘Art is a complete enjoyment’
This is the first year the city opened up the utility box art contest to school children across the Victorville District. Olivia was one of four finalists selected among 34 semi-finalists from 17 different schools across the district.
This year’s theme is future careers.
Although Olivia is becoming increasingly recognizable as a public artist, she wants to enter the medical field when she grows up.
“People always want to label things, but Olivia can do both if she wants,” Susannah assured the Daily Press. “Art is a complete enjoyment for her.”
Olivia’s grandfather suffered from skin conditions growing up. The artist said she aspires to understand what caused the discomfort for her grandfather by studying dermatology.
In her selected artwork for the utility box, Olivia drew herself front and center as a dermatologist, surrounded by the community that raised her. The Victorville Fairgrounds can be seen in the background, as well as Route 66, a cargo train, the Victorville Costco, Scandia, cacti and her classmates.
Susannah says that letting kids participate in town initiatives shows that the city has pride in its town. Opportunities like these to engage the Victorville youth in community involvement weren’t available a few years ago. She says she loves witnessing the growth taking place beneath her nose.
Olivia thanks her friends and family for supporting and encouraging her artistic journey, especially her best friend Serena Sooter, who is Olivia’s “biggest fan.”
McKenna Mobley is a reporter for the Daily Press. She can be reached at mmobley@usatodayco.com or on Instagram @mckenna_dailypress.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: 12-year-old artist carving a name for herself in the High Desert
Reporting by McKenna Mobley, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
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By McKenna Mobley, Victorville Daily Press | USA TODAY Network
