Meet the 14-year old Yukoner navigating ADHD through art

Once Riley Cyre steps away from an art project, she's not going back to it. 

It's a symptom of her ADHD, but Cyre says art has also been a kind of medicine for it. 

"I've learned a lot about myself, and art has helped me express my feelings and how I am as a person," the Whitehorse teen said.

Cyre, 14, uses a tablet to create art digitally. She describes her work as having lines and dots everywhere, which can bother her but she says others find it unique.  

Cyre is the artist behind the exhibition, "Pixel Perfect: A Journey Drawing Outside the Lines," that opened Thursday at the Yukon Arts Centre. It's her first art show and Cyre says seeing her work on display feels vulnerable. 

"It's part of me. I'm always worried about what other people think and my ADHD helps raise that to a new level."

But she's also really proud of what she's accomplished. 

"I realized, 'wow, I did this.'"

Cyre was diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago. It's something that she says explains a lot.  

"My brain gets really crowded and I get these terrible headaches, but once we were able to address that my life's been so much better," she said. 

Her mom Shelley says Riley's come a long way. 

"I'm just so proud of this kid. Like, she's come so far and she's got grit. She never gives up. She just has so much to offer with her art," Shelley said. 

Shelley says that Riley has always lived with anxiety and that art has become an outlet for her emotions. 

"There's some pieces that I have difficulty looking at because I know what a hard time she was going through, and there's some pieces where I can see the joy and the happiness," Shelley said. 

Riley isn't sure what's next for her with art. She smiles at the idea of getting to pursue a career as an artist, but either way she plans to keep creating. 

"Pixel Perfect: A Journey Drawing Outside the Lines" is on at the Yukon Arts Centre until mid-January.