The iron smell of fresh acrylic, the silence of artistic concentration, and walls adorned with only the best works from students past and present. This is room 506, where senior Jae Cota spends most of his time on campus. The room is the pride of PRHS Art and Animation teacher Taylor Brooks, who’s taught Cota in various art classes during his high school tenure. He’s been enrolled in at least one of Brook’s classes every year of his high school pathway, . When asked what got him through his high schools experience gave credit to his teachers.
“The support of my teachers like Brooks, who were always really nice, made me realize that there are people who want to help me and make plans for me to succeed,.” Cota said.
How to describe Cota’s art? “Inspirational”. senior artist Sarah Zavalla responded. She’s known Cota since their junior year in Brook’s animation class, a new curriculum for the 2023-2024 year drafted and headed by Brooks who needed artists who could legitimize the course.
Zavalla got an idea of who Cota was, as well as his undeniable artistic drive . “He’s very outgoing, fun, very inclusive, it’s clear he is really passionate about art,.” Zavalla said. Cota’s passion for art is mainly driven by his loved ones. “I like portraits. My main inspiration is the people around me. I would love for them to see how I see them. Most of my portfolio is the people I love.” He attributes family and friends to his artistic inspiration and the motivation that’s kept him going through the past four years.
“ I want to be remembered as the guy who did a lot.”
– Jae Cota, 12
The rest of his time Cota invests on elevated ground, It’s the upstairs 1000 building where Cota is making a real impact on the school through art with a modern rendition of Raphael’s renaissance classic The School Of Athens. A painting meant to immortalize different iconic figures for the arts, sciences, and human rights. Now it displays more modern figures of the same fields. Ranging from revolutionaries like Malcolm X, to generational artists like Hayao Miyazaki, and even Cota’s personal favorite, Frida Kahlo. “Her pieces are very different, she has so much personality in her art and it’s fun to try and put it on canvas, she’s a big inspiration for me.” The Mural first started late in the 2023-2024 school year, stuck in a muddled planning stage unable to get off the ground. At the start of the 2024-2025 school year, Cota began to take initiative and has brought the product in its state today.
Local artist Stephen Kalar has helped on the previous mural in the 1000’s as well as the one Cota’s fronting right now. He sees a bright future for the artist, “He’s very good at translating himself. He’s way ahead of his time, he has a brilliant future if he takes this seriously.”. And for Jae, he sees it as another way to cement his legacy as a virtuoso. “I want to be remembered for any job, like the mural and any of my other pieces for clubs and contests. I want to be remembered as the guy who did a lot.”
