SBHS sophomore Yara Ascencio has been an artist ever since preschool and has been a contributor to the National Art Honor Society since the sixth grade. Although she has reached many great achievements with her creativity, the rising cost of art supplies has left her to use her art supplies to the very last drop.

The average art student spends around $70-200 a month on art supplies including various forms of paint, colored pencils, and crayons according to the Grady Newsource.

“I usually spend around 50 dollars on a trip to Micheal’s for a few items but that’s because I saved up coupons. I don’t even wanna imagine how much I’d be spending without those coupons,” said Ascencio.

Although she does not see this conflict as influencing her creativity, Ascencio is not a fan of the high cost of art supplies.

“Most of my colored pencils are barely holdable anymore and I don’t plan to stop using them until their last speck,” said Ascencio

Art department and National Art Honor Society director Jennifer Shapiro often finds the scarcity of art supplies in her classroom due to high prices extremely concerning. This financial sprain imposed by the gradually increasing cost of art-based supplies has left a huge burden on creativity.

“The rising cost of art supplies feels limiting to my students and their creativity. I feel like- I know they can do so much more with the right materials,” said Shapiro.

Expensive supplies particularly affect students from lower income statuses especially those that rely on their parents for money and are too young to get jobs.

“Art supplies should be easily accessible to everyone because everyone deserves a chance to express themselves,” says Shapiro.