Emma Nolan, Arts Editor
@emman_courant
Even though the Inspired By NCHS art gallery officially opened in December, the NCHS community is lucky that the gallery is still open to walk around and explore the work of student artists.
The Inspired By gallery has wide variety of pieces all created by 9th-12th students, adding color and depth to the lobby of NCHS. With the attraction each photo brings, I’ve walked around the gallery and noticed five images that intentionally caught my eye.
1.) Sam Pepe’s Piece inspired by 20th Century Abstract painter, Charles Demuth
This photo caught my attention the first time I walked through the gallery. Sam uses contrasting colors in a familiar setting giving the photo outstanding qualities. Sam’s use of bright yellow and dark blues draws attention to her photo. This primary color scheme gives the piece a cartoon like feel, making the photo look cartoonish and surreal.
2.) Courtney Coutts’ Photoshop inspired by 20th century photographer, Vivian Maier
In Courtney’s piece, I was instantly drawn into her reflection in the broken mirror. Even though only half of Courtney’s face was shown in the piece, I feel like the photo shows a lot of feeling and emotion. Another aspect I liked about Courtney’s photo was the use of a dark background to draw attention to her reflection within the mirror. The white background behind her face creates a contrast, focusing the viewer in on what Courtney wants us to see. She also pops the white in her eyes, making the pupils and whites of her eyes pop even more.
3.) Matthew De Palo’s piece inspired by 20th century painter, Henri Matisse
I was drawn to Matt’s piece instantly because of the exaggerated features he created. The enhancement around the eyes and the edits made to the hair make the model look more doll-like and fantastical than humanlike. The colors Matt used were bold and different, drawing attention to the parts he altered. Another aspect that I admire about this piece is how Matt used many details to match the exact style of the artist’s. Even down to the artist’s signature, Matt uses a similar messy style to model after Henri’s writing.
4.) Lucy Wilks’ display Inspired by the imagery of Laurie Halse Anderson’s book, Speak
Walking through the gallery, it’s hard to miss Lucy’s beautiful and large display of different sketches on top of Dictionary pages. She boxes important words to emphasize importance to her project, drawing attention to feeling. Lucy uses various tools to create simple drawings that have a lot of meaning.
5.) Jessica Dantas’ Art inspired by Nefertiti, an Ancient Egyptian Statue
Instantly seeing Jessica’s art, I loved it. Jessica’s work was different from other the other pieces in the gallery because she chose to use a sculpture over a painting. The sculpture dates back to ancient times, and Jessica adding a modern twist on it makes her work very diverse. Jessica created her own head piece for the model, making the photo her own. Jessica uses her photography and Photoshop skills to produce a beautiful piece of art.
