Kirsten Pruitt

Going into kindergarten, I was required to take an ERB test. When I got to the last question on the test, there was a picture of a cookie that was divided into little pieces. What fraction of the cookies were eaten? What? Fractions? I vividly remember shaking and being extremely upset because I had no idea what a fraction was. That was it for math and me. That same year, our art teacher instructed us to draw a picture of ourselves in our journals. Everyone else drew stick figures. I worked through recess, unable to call the self-portrait finished because i wanted to add more details, and once I finished, it was still not a good drawing. That night I went home to my mom, and I ranted to her in tears because I could not figure out how to draw a simple picture of myself. My mom was confused because she had never heard me complain about art, but she signed me up for an art class anyway. I met my art teacher, Alex, when I was six and was so excited to learn. After I learned how to grid the canvas with one-inch squares, Alex asked me if I knew what a fraction was. He noticed that I was upset when he brought up fractions, so he showed me how easy they were. He explained fractions while teaching me to draw an orchid. It went from fractions, to multiplication tables, to algebra and geometry. The fact that I had to learn fractions by the age of six was a spark to my determination that allowed me to start painting. After all of the hard work and pursuing painting, I eventually learned to love math and even started my LLC called Pruitt Parker Paintings.