Bailey Piechota, a seventeen year-old honors student from Northeast Pennsylvania, showed little artistic ability in her early years. Like most parents, her mother and father always told her that her drawings were beautiful, and proudly displayed them around the house.  She notes, looking back, they weren't all that good.  You can only rave so much about stick figures.

In elementary school, Bailey was discouraged from drawing as she repeatedly heard that it was ‘just an ability some are born with.’  As a teen, Bailey came to understand that there is no reward without hard work and she decided to start drawing again.  Her hard work sparked her excitement and love for drawing again.

In 2014, Bailey started looking for an art instructor, and stumbled across Ani Art Academy in an internet search.  It was there that Ani Art Academy's head instructor, Anthony Waichulis, introduced Bailey to Victoria Steel, an artist enrolled as an apprentice in his program. Bailey soon became enrolled as a Long Distance Apprentice. Victoria has since taken Bailey under her wing where she continues on her art-filled journey- continually improving while doing something that she loves.  It never occurred to anyone, looking at Bailey’s colorful drawings hanging on the refrigerator door, that one day her work might be on display on a gallery wall.

Bailey will be graduating high school in the year 2017. Whether or not she will choose a career path that includes art still remains to be seen.  One thing that is for certain…art will always be an important part of Bailey’s life.  From refrigerators to galleries, the path has been nothing, if not, rewarding.