Ava Johnson, a first-grader at Miles J. Jones Elementary School, has won an award for the school division in the VCU Metro Arts show. Her work also has been part of an exhibit at Artworks Gallery on Southside.

This Saturday, one of her art pieces will be on display at the Richmond Public Schools Fine Arts Festival at Huguenot High School.

“I love going to art class,” Ava said in an Instagram video recorded by RPS. “I feel happy and excited when I make art. I make pictures for other people.”

Vanessa DeYoung, the K-5 art teacher for Miles J. Jones, said she recognized Ava’s talent when she was a kindergartner last year. “She had a natural ability for designing things, and her color palette was advanced for a kindergartener,” Mrs. De Young said. “We’ve been building upon that.”

Instead of using just one color, for example, Ava mixes colors to create new ones and does layering, which is an advanced technique for her age. And while her first-grade peers may struggle with scale and size, Ava utilizes the entire space she is given to produce her art.

While helping students recover from learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a focus of K-12 public and private schools nationwide, Mrs. DeYoung said she has recognized another type of loss in students that is not as readily addressed in lesson plans.

“For a lot of the kids, since COVID, their imaginations have not been as nurtured,” she said. But with a mother who is a writer and illustrator, and a brother in the fourth grade at her school who will also have his artwork shown at the RPS Fine Arts Festival on Saturday, Ava comes from a creative family.

“Ava still has that sparkle, curiosity and wonder, and that’s another reason why she thrives in art class,” Mrs. DeYoung said.

Mrs. DeYoung said students need the arts because the curricula developed by those teachers reinforces the skills they need to use in academics.

“These kids needs hands-on with the arts — including music, visual arts and drama,” she said. “They are gaining confidence, using problem solving, developing fine motor skills, researching and writing in art class.”

Ava has indicated that she would like to do something art-related in her career when she grows up. Mrs. DeYoung said her goal for her classes is not to make every student a future artist, but to nurture their creativity — something they will need no matter their career path.

“My room is a space that is a working art studio, a place they claim as their own,” Mrs. DeYoung said. “To come in and be with their peers and creating is magical.”