Senior Adrienne Li
What are you currently working on?
“Right now I am working on a life-sized portrait about what makes me who I am.”
What are your goals for this year?
“I hope to develop more techniques and explore new mediums. I want to see how other people create in the art world.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“I have been creating art for a while, ever since I was really little. I enjoyed it so that’s why I continued. It’s a great way to describe and express how you feel and who you are without words. It’s a way to express yourself which is really powerful; being able to share that with other people is really cool.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“I am looking forward to the sustained investigation to find a prompt that I care about and to see what I can do to show and answer the prompt.”
Junior Paige Furst
What are you currently working on?
“I am currently working on a part of our “Life ‘Till Now” project. For the final touches I am adding plants, flowers and possibly some little demon guys if I have it in me. I am going to add it on top of my current piece for layering and dynamic.”
What are your goals for this year?
“I really want to get used to the process of creating a portfolio and understanding how it works. I also want to fool around with mediums I haven’t practiced with and discuss serious themes that I haven’t dived into in previous courses I took.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“As long as I remember, a lot of people in my family do art so that has been a motivator. My grandma is a retired art teacher; my dad is a professional graphic arts designer. I am surrounded by a lot of constant creativity which keeps me going.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“I really am looking forward to seeing where the process takes me. It is so freeform and open for interpretation – I can get away with doing a lot of stuff I couldn’t have explored before. I’ll just leave it up to fate to see where things go.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“With the current state of society with art and values surrounding it, it is very important to create new art and embrace art that already exists.”
Junior Honor Alonso
What are you currently working on?
“My “Life ‘Till Now’” self portrait. Right now I am ripping up old books from the library and gluing them to this paper.”
What are your goals for this year?
“I want to let myself be more creative and not hold myself to high expectations. Envy of other people can blind you and that restrains me from doing anything.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“Since elementary school I have been taking art classes. I like to produce art and do something with my hands that’s creative. I can express myself in ways without words. A lot of my family members are artists so I thought I would do it too.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“Creating the portfolio for the College Board; it will give me more of an idea of what art college is like.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“I think a lot of people don’t do art since they think they aren’t good at it, but I don’t think it is about being good. It is more so the ability to put your feelings down and articulate that how you want.”
Senior Juliana Mazur
What are you currently working on?
“We are working on these weird self portraits, where we are explaining who we are through our art.”
What are your goals for this year?
“Get through senior year [which is] transitional and horrifying. Try to get better at what I’m doing. Try not to cry.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“I have been doing art since I was itty bitty. It has always made me happy. I’ve enjoyed it. There really is nowhere to go but up.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“The sustained investigation; I never had the chance to look into my art and explore what makes me tick.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“Our school has good art programs; take advantage of it. We are one of the lucky public schools to have so many options. It might not always be fun since it is a class, but you get something out of it.”
Junior Linden Schaffer
What are you currently working on?
“I am working on our self-portrait. I am struggling a lot with it; Ms. Duffy said to treat it like a therapeutic process so that is what I am doing. I am gluing down lots of sticky notes I’ve written things on.”
What are your goals for this year?
“I want to figure out my style and aesthetic more. I also want to start thinking about college. I know what I want to do when it comes to art but I want to do my portfolio and explore that more.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“As soon as I could pick up a pencil. My whole family is art driven. My mom does art for a living and my dad does music as a hobby.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“I am really looking forward to being in a space with other artists. I want to work in a studio in the future. Having this experience so far has been nice. You can just turn around and ask for help.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“Something people should realize is that art is meant to look weird. Art is not made for other people; it is used as a form of expression for the artist.”
Senior Soph Cairns
What are you currently working on?
“I am working on a self portrait. I am displaying different things that make me who I am with charcoal.”
What are your goals for this year?
“Expanding what materials I use and the size I make art in.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“I have been making art since I was little. My uncle is a painter and he taught me what he knew. We used to draw together.”
Senior Lydia Reineke
What are you currently working on?
“We are working on our self portraits. At this moment I am working at the bottom of my piece; I want the upper half compared to the bottom to contrast. The upper part represents my childhood nostalgia and the bottom takes on a darker mood that is less childish. I have innocence and maturity in my art.”
What are your goals for this year?
“I definitely want to improve and get other artists’ perspectives. I am in a class where everyone is passionate about something I am passionate about. I want to connect with people and get their opinions on my work.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“I really got into art in fourth grade. I like how you can tell stories with it. The desire to create something motivates me. I like how you can make something out of nothing. There is beauty in just that —; even if it’s not the next Mona Lisa, it’s still something I created with my brain which is really cool.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“I definitely am excited to make a portfolio and have a bunch of different works that relate to my question.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“Art is important because it is a different way to tell stories and share. Art is very subjective so everyone perceives it differently no matter what, which is what I like about it.”
Senior Drew Sbordone
What are you currently working on?
“We’re doing a piece of paper that’s the same height as you and then you have to make it a self-portrait based on things that make you you without it being your face.”
What are your goals for this year?
“Try new techniques.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“I feel like I’ve always created stuff, it’s just different depending on what it is, but I’m always doing something with art, whether that’s collaging or [doing] something like a tear design. I’m always piecing things together. In terms of commitment, I just like creating things. I’m very tedious with things too, so I like to take my time and make sure everything’s perfect.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“Bigger pieces, something that takes a little bit more time than a normal piece would in a regular art class. I would describe my art as modern in a way, but also kind of eclectic. There’s a lot of color but not too much; everything has to match. I like patterns, textures, that’s what you’ll see a lot.”
Senior Lila Shields
What are you currently working on?
“Currently, we are doing a life-sized piece of ourselves. I am 5’7 and I laid on the ground, rolled out a piece of paper, and now we are trying to do a timeline about bits and pieces of ourselves and what made us who we are. It’s kind of abstract.”
What are your goals for this year?
“This year, I want to feel more open about my art and sharing my art. I feel like for a lot of artists, it’s hard to share our art because it’s an outlet and makes us vulnerable. So I want to work on that. And I also want to get closer with people in my class and have exposure to different styles and different mediums.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“I started at a young age. I liked doodling and ever since I was younger it helped with my anxiety. If I was stressed, I would draw weird things on my paper, like cats. Then I continued to stick with it. Ever since freshman year I wanted to take AP Art because I think the people who have taken it in the past are so cool and I’m like, ‘I wanna be cool and take AP Art.’ So here I am and I just feel like it’s a way for me to help myself and also help other people feel less alone. I see something that’s different and something that only my brain has ever seen and then I put it on paper and then everybody can see it which is cool.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“I’m excited to start our sustained investigation. It’s a question that we focus our AP Art portfolio on that we submit to the College Board. So I look forward to being able to kind of wrap my head around an idea and then create a bunch of pieces that align with that and display visually what I’m thinking and what that topic means to me. In terms of what my theme is actually going to be, I’ve been thinking about my relationship with different things. I know a lot of people have done friendship in the past or body image or being a woman. I think that something that I’m drawn to is growing up and grappling with growing up in my relationship with experiencing different things at different ages and how my perception has changed.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“Ms. Duffy is awesome. She teaches AP Art and if anyone is interested in taking AP Art or doing ceramics or any other things, you should do it even if you think you’re bad. I think I’m bad and I’m sure a lot of people would argue I’m not. Do what makes you uncomfortable because you could produce something that’s super cool!”
Senior Lillian Johnson
What are you currently working on?
“We’re taking photos and then we’re messing with the exposure and underexposure and then we’re gonna see how editing changes the color with printing the photos. We’re trying to edit underexposed and make it look normal and then see how that changes the color.”
What are your goals for this year?
“Mainly just to improve my photography because in AP 2D Art and Design you can choose to focus on digital art or photography and I’m choosing to focus on photography and work on my sustained investigation and try out new techniques, especially with lighting.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“I’ve been doing art my whole life, but in freshman year I took Digital Art and I really liked that, and then I took Photojournalism sophomore year and that’s when I started to lean more towards photography. Then I realized I really liked design and all the technical aspects, so I really just kept taking every art class I could. I took Graphic Design, Photography, Mixed Media and then I met the requirements and this is a next step up. It has more prep for college art classes, ’cause I want to major in architecture so it’s a good experience for that.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“Probably getting critiques and more advice on my art and then just further advancing my skills.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“In AP Art and Design there are two people in this class and it’s at the same time as a graphic design class, so it’s like I’m watching a class that I took last year.”
Senior Caroline Lou
What are you currently working on?
“What we’re doing right now is brainstorming, and some of us are finishing up our summer work which is kinda bad, but it’s good because it’s helping us lay the foundations for what we want to do for our actual portfolios. Although I don’t take photography, or don’t want my portfolio to be photography, we’re still doing photography stuff to help with our color theory and lighting. I think it really just shows how intersectional photography and graphic art is.”
What are your goals for this year?
“I really want to explore more about how far we can stretch the boundaries of digital art because I feel like there are a lot of things we can do on the computer that might not seem obvious, and I think it’s really fun to experiment with styles I haven’t done before and see how I can improve through that.”
How long have you been creating art, and what has motivated you to continue such a high level of commitment?
“I’ve been creating art since I was a kid, since I was five or six, so it’s always been a part of my life. I really want to do something related to art in college, and I think that’s part of the reason I’m taking AP [Art] 2D right now so I can have a portfolio during college and be able to know what I want to do with my art before I get into college through this class.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“Just sort of figuring out my style, but I also have an idea for a prompt in mind. We have a prompt that our whole portfolio is focused around, and I think it’s fun to explore that idea really in-depth through different pieces.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“I am just really excited to start with my portfolio, and I think more people should take AP [Art] 2D because right now there’s only two people in my class including me.”
Senior Mira Denney
What are you currently working on?
“Currently, we’re on our second project of the year. It’s supposed to be the idea of a self-portrait but about your life rather than about what you look like. It’s a big sheet of paper that’s the same height as you, and it’s just filling it with whatever you think represents your life.”
What are your goals for this year?
“For this year, I think for the first half of the year, it’s experimenting and figuring out what mediums I like and what ideas I want to explore. For this second half of the year, it’s more based on creating my portfolio for the AP test. I really think I want to try as many mediums as possible and ways of expression. I’ve already done wood burning which is an interesting medium that not a lot of people do. I like printmaking, so I want to do more of that.”
How long have you been creating art and what is motivated you to continue such a high level?
“I have been doing art as long as I can remember; I’ve always been a very crafty person. I think that motivation has been difficult before I decided that I wanted to do art later in life because it’s something that can just easily fall away from your daily routine. I think discovering how much I truly enjoyed creating is a big motivation in itself because when you love something, you want to do more of it, and you want to learn more about it. In the past few years, I discovered my love for fashion and for that side of art. I think that design, whether it’s like graphic design or designing fashion, is a whole another facet of art.”
What are you looking forward to doing in AP Art this year?
“I’m really looking forward to picking my feed for my portfolio. There’s always a few things like bobbing around in my brain where I was like, ‘Should I do this? Should I do that?’ but I’m really excited for the times where I actually have to make myself sit down and decide what I’m going to make art about. It’s fun to figure out what I’m going to do.”
