Daniel Irwin is not just an average artist here at R.J Reynolds high school. Irwin is known by his peers, by his teachers, and around campus as an extraordinary visual artist. Irwin, who has been drawing since he could remember took it to the next step in high school.

“I’ve always liked to draw things since I can remember.” said senior visual artist Daniel Irwin. “I stopped doing it as much in middle school, but I picked it up again in high school because my art teachers actually helped me improve my technique.”

As Irwin became more invested in his art he started gravitating towards specific styles of drawings and focused on graphite and pen drawings.

“I started to gravitate towards graphite and pen drawings as high school went along,” Irwin stated. “I am interested in how those types of drawings end up because I can express my thoughts in each of them.”

Irwin has many peers that vouch for his artistic abilities and support him, one of those friends being senior Xavier Henry who has known Daniel since the sixth grade.

“Daniel’s creative mind really shows in his work,” senior Xavier Henry said, “He has a really good sense of how he wants to express himself and has a knack of knowing what to put in each piece of art.”

Ashley Hurst, Daniel’s art teacher here at Reynolds says Irwin is an exceptional artist with unlimited potential.

“I have not had a student of that has Daniel’s artistic abilities. Every piece he draws has something different to say.” Art teacher Ashley Hurts said. “He has so much potential too, I believe he has a whole other level that he has not been found yet.”

Every artist has an inspiration and every piece of art is inspired by something. Irwin’s art is inspired by artist like Salvador Dali and Chuck Close who use graphite and pen drawings to get the work done.

“My work is best described as a combination of realism and surrealism, which Salvador Dali and Chuck Close both do,” Irwin claimed. “I come up with my own original abstract concepts and put it into a visual that i can make look as real as possible. I like to make each of my pieces something new and interesting.

Irwin looks to continue his work in the future and expand his verizon on artistic views that will help him become a better artist.

“I am looking forward to continuing my art career and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for it,” Daniel said. “I want to broaden my work and improve myself.”