Roseville High School sophomore Julie Nguyen donated some of her artwork to be auctioned off at this year’s annual Barktoberfest, run by the Placer SPCA.

Nguyen, a self-taught artist, has never taken an art class in her life.She coached herself and developed the artistic abilities she has today through practice. Nguyen began painting regularly in eighth grade for recreational reasons and continued once she saw how much she was improving.

“You pick up pencils and crayons as a kid and all of a sudden you’re drawing,” Nguyen said.

Though it took a while for her to attempt to hone her painting abilities, Nguyen felt that she was able to grasp the basics quickly and move on to using more complicated materials, such as acrylics in place of watercolors, without too much difficulty.

Nguyen first worked as an artist for the Placer SPCA where she ran an awareness campaign and raised funds for it last year, as part of a school-based project. Sophomore Maddie Grappo worked closely with Nguyen, as the two found a shared love for animals.

“I’d seen some of her work for the other projects she’d done in class. I knew she was gonna work really hard to make that painting [for our project] look good, especially to my standards,” Grappo said. “[The project] turned out so great. She’s really good at what she does.”

Nguyen expressed her admiration of the SPCA’s goal and the importance of animals in her life through her painting.

“The SPCA is a cause I really believe in, because if you can help disadvantaged animals in any way, then why not? The rights of animals don’t just extend to your pets or the ones you directly interact with,” Nguyen said.

After the success Nguyen previously experienced in her freshman year and the debt she felt she owed the SPCA after they found one of her lost cats, Nguyen believed that donating her art a second time could help in her effort to repay them for the good deed that they did for her family.

“I donated my art as an auction piece to the SPCA so that they can hopefully use it and sell it to make money for their organization,” Nguyen said. “The SPCA has a farther reach than I do and could do a lot with that money.”

Nguyen decided to make dogs the main focus of her soon to be auctioned off paintings.

“Usually, my main signature focus of my paintings is dogs, because people tend to like dogs more than other animals – but there are some other animals included as well,” Nguyen said.

Grappo expressed her continued admiration at the depth of Nguyen’s artistic abilities and thought that others would feel similarly upon learning about the artist.

“It’s probably gonna inspire other people too, to do things that help out our community,” Grappo said. “If they learn it’s from a high-schooler, maybe people will think, ‘Hey, maybe I could do that, too.’”

Nguyen’s friend, sophomore Nathan Sangria, is excited that Nguyen is finally getting the chance to show off all her hard work.

“I think it’s a really good way for her to showcase her abilities, because I believe that she really is talented,” Sangria said.

Although Nguyen does not see herself becoming a professional artist in the future, she is open to commissioning her art once again if anyone is interested in her work.
Barktoberfest will be held this Saturday at the Placer SPCA.