TRUCKEE, Calif. — After being featured in a local art gallery, a Truckee High School student is finding success as an artist. 

Indy Boyer, 16, started sketching at a young age and despite not taking formal art classes, her family saw talent. 

“My parents have seen me have a talent at a young age and they were supportive, especially my grandparents too, who bought me a lot of art supplies,” Boyer said. 

---

---

While she did it for fun and as a stress release growing up, she didn’t take her first art class until last year. She didn’t have plans for her artwork, it just hung in her room. 

“The moment I start painting, I’m in my own little world, I don’t think about anything else. It’s cool how six hours can go by so quickly,” Boyer said. 

---

---

During the summer of 2022, her friend’s parents, Sara Dube and Curtis Blassingame, who own Gallery 5830′ in Downtown Truckee, saw her art and decided to feature it in their gallery. 

Her paintings are primarily watercolors or acrylic paint. She started with, and has been drawn by landscapes but has been trying to expand to do more portraits. 

“The more art I do, the more I evolve in my art and the longer my paintings take, so they used to take six hours but now it’s a course of weeks, so I’m getting less paintings done but they are more detailed now,” Boyer said. 

The first pieces she displayed were priced fairly cheaply because they were painted on inexpensive canvases. She said those pieces sold quickly. 

“I was the most popular artist in the gallery for a portion of the summer,” Boyer said. 

She’s now selling her pieces for $100-$500.

When she’s not painting, she’s a dedicated athlete. She does lacrosse and competes in big mountain skiing with Team Palisades. Because it’s ski season, her painting time is limited but she’ll be back at it this spring.

“I want to thank the gallery owners, they’ve done so much for me. They definitely have started off my career,” Boyer said. 

To see her art, visit Gallery 5830′ on 10060 Donner Pass Rd.