Jahden Jones-Brown is a mixed media artist currently in Mr. Jafari’s ‘Ceramics 1’ class. Brown’s inspiration comes from starting art at a young age in a unique family setting.

“So, I started art at Green Trails Elementary,” Brown said. “My art teacher was Mr. Dar and he really got me into art. Ever since then, I’ve been messing around with clay, doing a lot of stuff with the different forms. I got artists in the family, more like cousins, faraway cousins, but I definitely think they played a part.”

All good artists are inspired by something. For Jahden, his inspiration is right in his pocket.

“TikTok is where you want to go. Instagram, Youtube — they teach you different techniques. That’s where you want to go when you want to get some inspiration,” Brown said.

“He’ll come in and say how he saw something on TikTok and that he wants to try it. Then he does and it turns out cool,” Art/Ceramics teacher David Jafari said. “So, I feel like Jahden has been successful and a lot of it is through preparation and just having good ideas and having a good work ethic.”

Mr. Jafari believes that Jahden is an excellent representative of the art program. He believes Jahden’s success stems from not just from his technical ability, but his character as well. 

“Jahden comes in here on his lunch break,” Jafari said. “He’ll stay after school and he really just works to improve on the wheel and his clay skills.”

We got the chance to talk with Jahden about some of his favorite pieces in this year’s art show.

“I like this plate right here. This is probably my favorite out of all of them. I wanted to do something a little different. I also got another plate over here. We are working with a couple different colors as well,” Brown said. “That’s one of the great things about Parkway Central. It’s that everyone has their own ideas; they come with their own backgrounds and themes.”