Seneca’s Julia Bechtel talks current and future art aspirations
When Seneca High School senior Julia Bechtel took an acrylic painting class at the University of the Arts two years ago, it was love at first brush stroke. The 18-year-old has expertly honed her craft since sophomore year, and she hopes to carry her love of art throughout her life.
“For me, art is a very therapeutic thing. Some people like to write. Some people like to talk to a therapist. I like to get whatever’s in my head onto a canvas,” Bechtel said. “When you’re painting, you don’t really think about anything else. You don’t think about the stress that you’re feeling or the problems that you’re having. All you think about is, ‘What color should I use?’ In that moment, you’re just creating.”
Bechtel remembers putting pencil to paper in kindergarten, but she didn’t get serious about art until middle school. After taking art classes in Medford Lakes in the eighth grade, she decided to enroll in Art I for her freshman year at Seneca. She continued on this art track — in addition to taking classes at UArts — and is now finishing her high school career in AP Art.
Bechtel’s AP Art concentration is city, meaning the bulk of her body of artwork this year will be focused on anything that evokes the feeling of a city — streetlights, taxi cabs, pigeons and the like.
For her recent submission to the Center for the Arts Burlington County High School Students’ Exhibition, however, Bechtel stepped away not only from her AP concentration, but also from her creative comfort zone. The risk paid off when she took home an Award of Excellence for her acrylic painting, “Cold Water.”
“It was spontaneous. It doesn’t have anything to do with my concentration,” Bechtel said. “I have had this fascination with the water, but personally I feel I’m really bad at water. I was trying to experiment a little bit and ease myself into it.”
She took something she was familiar with painting — a face — and worked it into her piece. Bechtel also stepped away from her typical warm color palette, creating “Cold Water” with cool tones, evoking a feeling of “decay and wasting away.”
“It was difficult for me to do, but I really like the way it turned out,” Bechtel said. “I like to stay in my comfort zone, so when I can ease myself into — no pun intended — dangerous water, it makes it a lot easier for me.”
This wasn’t the first art award for Bechtel. She entered the Deborah Heart Challenge and Art Competition last year, taking home an honorable mention, and won two recognition awards from the Teen Arts competition at the RCBC Pemberton Campus.
“It’s always an honor to be awarded. It’s definitely nice to be recognized because I think a lot of people don’t realize how difficult it is to do art,” Bechtel said. “There’s really a lot of thought that goes into a piece. It’s really nice when people are able to appreciate that.”
While Bechtel’s passion for art is evident, she isn’t planning on majoring in art when she heads to college this fall. The teen hopes to become a family doctor, working in Africa or in a low-income community in the United States.
On the side, however, she hopes to continue painting.
“I definitely want to still be involved in art,” Bechtel said. “I would be interested in murals. I think that’s something that is becoming more and more interesting to me, how murals can influence a community … I want to make my art able to connect people, to build bridges between communities.”
Art and science are only the tip of the iceberg in Bechtel’s hobby repertoire. At Seneca, she is also a member of the newspaper and Latin clubs, as well as a part of three honor societies — national, art and English. She played field hockey all four years, finishing on the varsity team this past fall.
With such a strong interest in murals, it’s no question Bechtel will continue to put her art into the world beyond high school. She encourages others to do the same.
“Take pride in whatever you make,” Bechtel said. “I promise you 100 percent of the time, there’s somebody out there who will love it.”
