Olivia West, Reporter
@oliviawcourant
As students walk down the halls of the school, they pass famous quotes and paintings right alongside student-made murals and constantly changing art shows. The most recent display, with an abstract reality theme, let artists submit work containing elements of abstraction, realism, or a combination of the two.
Jennifer Sinski, who teaches filmmaking, photography, printmaking, and mixed media design, was a lead faculty advisor for the art show. Ms. Sinski, along with fellow art teachers Kimanne Core and Jeanne McDonagh, were excited about the show’s creative theme. “I think that sharing student work creates an engaging environment that connects students with other students as well as teachers, administrators, staff, parents and community members too,” Ms. Sinski said, “When you walk through the main lobby and see the art on display, you can’t help but get inspired by everyone’s creative skills.”
Senior Ava Nichols got involved with the Art Club and the Art Gallery Committee after taking the Introduction to Photography course as a sophomore. As Head of the Art Gallery Committee, Ava considers her favorite part to be selecting art for the shows because she gets to see all of the pieces that her peers have been working on. Because of this selection process, Ava has been exposed to various techniques, styles, and subjects. “Some of the recurring themes in abstract art are optical illusions, in which artists would use an everyday object or action and combine it with something unexpected that would make the viewers question the subject of the work,” she said.
As a student who submitted multiple works of art, senior Gwenan Walker combines elements of abstraction and realism to create her art. She created pieces with a reality aspect contrasted by something less rooted in the laws of the real world. “Although most of my work in this show isn’t “abstract” in the literal sense of the word, they all revolve around an abstract concept. I try to reach a more neutral ground between abstract and reality, creating a sort of ‘uncanny valley’ in which nothing initially looks wrong or out of place,” she said.
As a part of her concentration in AP Studio Art this year, Gwenan developed a piece that was meant to display the biological similarities between humans and chimpanzees. “I’m trying to backtrack and show people that the differences that we claim to be so prominent between us and other species, are really quite similar when taken from any sort of evolutionary or genetic point of view,” she said. “From the viewer’s perspective, I wanted to challenge them to actually discern the differences between the human anatomy shown and that of a chimpanzee.”
Junior Andrew Jameson, another contributor to the art show, finds inspiration in the creativity, emotion, and style of Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. In general, Andrew likes to paint and draw portraits that are in some way abstract, so he was excited about this year’s theme. When he develops abstract art, Andrew tries to pivot from his point of view to someone else’s. “In creating abstract art, I first try to comprehend reality by looking at a subject through the lens of an average person. I then attempt to change my perspective and see the subject in an alternate way that portrays an unconventional viewpoint. By doing this, I really try to incorporate both elements of reality and abstraction into my abstract artwork.” said Andrew.
He did just that in this year’s show, submitting artwork that was inspired by how one experiencing double vision might perceive another’s face. With this piece, he hoped that the viewer would step back and consider the art, trying to rearrange the features so that it fits reality.
Art is a huge part of our school’s community, and artists from all grades have worked hard on their pieces and submitted a variety of media. “Our goal was to have a wide range of art media entered and selected. There is a large breadth of drawing, painting, photography, digital art, filmmaking, printmaking and mixed media in this exhibition,” Ms. Sinski said.
