Some siblings try to differentiate themselves from each others, avoiding comparisons at all cost. However, senior Elise Gibson and freshman Paul Gibson manage to have similar interests in the arts but still retain their own identities.

Elise’s main interest is fashion, which she believes came from her sister, 2012 graduate Madeleine Gibson, who was an active member of the National Art Honors Society. Elise says her sister’s great fashion inspired her to dress without regards to normalcy or the opinions of others.

“I had no interest in dressing up until I was about 13,” Elise said. “One day I saw my sister getting ready for school and she looked so pretty I thought that I could do that, too.”
Since this revelation, Elise’s fashion has never stayed stagnant. She says that changes in her personality from middle school to high school have changed her style, again for the better.

“I’m more confident now than when I was back then, so now I can dress in crazy stuff,” Elise said.

Elise’s other art interests include ceramics and music. Her pottery interest began in high school, like her sister’s. Elise enjoys seeing the 3-D work because she said it seems more real than Madeleine’s preferred mediums.

“My sister does a lot of drawing and painting,” Elise said. “I just wanted to do something different.”

Paul’s creative outlets are writing and music. Elise says that Paul does things she would never thought of doing, and he’s incredibly dedicated to both interests.

“I started playing the ukulele about a year ago,” Paul said. “I heard a song by Charity Children called Butterflies, decided to buy a ukulele and started to play. I play it about every day, and I’ve been studying the piano for seven years.”

Paul admits that he enjoys his writings more, though. He posts short stories, poetry and book reviews to his blog.

“My poetry is very reflective,” Paul said. “I spend most of my time looking at the story or image and I think: How could this be applicable to a much larger or more important situation?”

Paul gets inspiration not only through his siblings but also through his everyday life. Just as Madeleine gave ideas to Elise, Paul finds his older sisters influential. He did not write poetry until he saw Elise’s and thought that he would give it a shot. But when looking for ideas on stories, poems and images, Paul said he thinks that anything can be inspiring.

“Basically, I live, and thus I am inspired by life in general,” Paul said.  “Inspiration comes from watching a kid draw a really interesting picture out of an extremely lame connect-the-dots game to reading a book about dragons.”

He said his siblings’ main role, though, is encouragement and perseverance. Madeleine’s ability and determination to do well helped him in the long run, seeing projects through. This comes from their close-knit home life. Although the siblings claim their parents aren’t musical or visually artistic, the siblings believe their encouragements to read often and to be interested in the arts pushed them in the right direction.

“Being home schooled was important, too,” Madeleine said.  “It gave more time for creative activities.”

Paul thinks that homeschooling budded his interest in many things, including a love of learning.

“I was given the world, and I was also given a quiet place where the world didn’t tell me what to do,” Paul said. “I could experiment with hobbies that I otherwise would have never thought was an option.”

Contrary to today’s stereotype of success being measured in grades, college admission and ultimately a well-paying job,

Paul said his parents were able to show him a different definition of what it means to be successful.

“These days people are telling everybody that the only successful life is if you work in mathematics or if you’re a lawyer, a doctor or a scientist,” Paul said. “[Defining] successful in that your banking balance is a seven-digit number or successful in life? I don’t particularly care which you choose but I feel that homeschooling gave me more of an option than most.”

With their close adolescent life and their common interests, the Gibsons are not only family but good friends.

“I enjoy watching them grow up into fascinating and unique people,” Madeleine said.