The Alabama School of Fine Arts announced last week that Cullman’s Lanie Doss would be among its newest crop of incoming students for the 2024-2025 school year.

While Lanie has spent the majority of her time as a student being homeschooled, her mother Callie said she first began displaying her interest in the arts as a kindergartener in the public school system.

“I can remember her bringing home these school papers and hardly any of the work on the front would be done, but there would be all of these doodles and drawings all over the back,” Callie said.

Callie said her and her husband Jacob — who own and operate Imagine Applied Behavioral Analysis in Cullman — incorporated art into their daughter’s lessons as a method to not only maintain interest in academic lessons, but also to cultivate her apparent blossoming passion.

“That just became her whole being. It was her outlet for anything she might be going through,” Callie said.

ASFA only accepting 100 students (35 percent) students who apply each year. Callie said her family was cautiously optimistic as they began the three-part audition process in November 2023. Doss submitted roughly 24 pieces for consideration before being invited for a follow-up audition which included an evaluation of her portfolio, an on-site drawing assignment and a personal interview.

“When we got the acceptance letter she asked me to open it and when I started reading it I couldn’t even really breathe to tell her she got in,” Callie said.

Callie said Lanie has primarily focused her talents as a sketch artist using mostly mechanical pencils and as a digital artist using Procreate software. She is most excited to learn to use new tools and techniques to enhance those skills, but is also interested in learning to incorporate new mediums into her artwork.

Callie said there aren’t any current plans to consider higher education art schools after graduation however. She said Lanie has expressed interest in attending law school to become a defense attorney for several years.

“I think she doesn’t want art to become a chore or anything. It is something that is just really personal to her and having that become a job takes some of that away from you,” Callie said.