By Emma Esposito ’23
Despite the pandemic, students’ creativity manages to shine in artwork created through multiple mediums. From ceramics to Photoshop to painting to drawing, upper schoolers enjoy their art classes and create pieces reflecting themselves and their environment. Connecting with these artists, selected pieces are collected here to demonstrate the widespread talent of our community. Commenting on their experiences are artists Teja Wasudev, EJ Jo, Ava Bui, Tymur Tkachenko, Kate Denny, Jenna Pullen, Ellie McMahon, Mary Esposito, Daria Thompson, and Ben Parker.
Teja Wasudev (’23) remarks about her embroidered backpack from her Fiber Arts class: “This project was enjoyable because we could choose whatever we to embroider and on any piece of fabric we wanted! I chose a space theme with planets and I wanted to decorate a mini backpack I have.” Contrasting the colorful planets and stars against the black background, Teja made her artwork stand out!
EJ Jo (’23) took her drawing class to the next level by creating this piece where she says she included “the two extremes of life: a living plant and dead skull.” She went further than her usual technique, adding the challenge of erasing sections before shading them back in. “It was different from what I usually do, so it was a unique process.” From this unique process, EJ truly created a unique piece of artwork.
From the 9th grade Art and Design course, Ava Bui (’24) has enjoyed taking her own approach to assignments. “We created abstract paintings mapped out by a landscape drawing we had drawn the week before. Obviously, I leaned more towards the abstract side,” she comments, describing the freedom for creativity. In addition to enjoying the creation process, Ava says she liked the final product as well: “Of course there were many mistakes, but in the end, the colors and the different shapes used throughout the piece make it unique.” Overall, it seems Ava and the 9th grade have been enjoying their intro art course.
“I enjoyed the projects because they gave an opportunity to use features of Photoshop for real life applications,” Tymur Tkachenko (’23) states on his submission from his Digital Imaging course. He is most proud of this project, his best work from the course so far, incorporating a newly learned technique. Featuring the overlapping and masking of images, he quadrupled himself in his digital art piece.
Though unfinished, Kate Denny (’23) captured her artistic image of a human heart surrounded by flowers in her painting course. The class encourages freedom in art form as she comments, “I was sort of in a rut of painting the same things over and over again, mainly portraits, but I feel like this was a great assignment [to] break out of my comfort zone.” Denny pushed her creative limits with this piece. “I’ve never painted anything super anatomical or gory like this before, but I loved doing it!” She remarks, enjoying the process and creation.
In another drawing, Jenna Pullen (’23) captured the shading and ambiance of her after school snack. The freedom of this project allowed Jenna to incorporate whatever she desired, which happened to be a banana with Nutella and peanut butter. “It was a flexible piece, we were allowed to draw what we wanted to,” Jenna comments on her assignment. When asked what stood out to her about this piece rather than others, she shares, “I really liked this art piece, I think the shading on the Nutella and the banana turned out really well.” She takes pride in her work, as she should, for now viewers understand her image through penciled illustration.
Ellie McMahon (’21) created this little bowl on the potter’s wheel in her ceramics class. Using the spinning wheel, she centered, shaped, and trimmed her piece to her liking. Students have made bowls, cups, vases, etc. of all shapes and sizes in this course. Ellie says, “I like how the result of this piece turned out, because the color of the glaze surprised me!” In addition to the wheel, the ceramics class has also been working on building pieces from hand including pinch pots, dreamscapes, coil pottery and abstract sculptures.
An experienced fiber artist, Mary Esposito (’21) crochets everything from clothing to amigurumi stuffies for her independent study in Fiber Arts. Having been in the Fiber Arts course multiple times, she has the freedom of independent work in her chosen fiber arts medium – in her case, crochet. “The happy pill I submitted was a fun and cute little stuffie to cuddle with, but also a part of my business’ mental health awareness project,” she comments, linking her class to her company. She finds the freedom of the class enjoyable, open to different fiber medium and artistic creativity. Mary has a knack for the craft and the class, allowing her to relax and create as she pleases.
A landscape painting by Daria Thompson (’23) pictures a vibrant sunset over a mountain range. “I liked how my piece was simple and how each mountain looked similar but with a lighter shade of the blue/black color,” Daria explains, incorporating her personal preferences into her piece. In the process for this assignment, students were inspired by landscapes from the internet, then created a watercolor and acrylic version of their own. Commenting on this unique approach, she adds, “I liked how we got to do a watercolor painting first because we could see what our project would look like without the fine detail.” Daria and other students in her painting class have learned and utilized new techniques to outline and enhance their art.
Also created in ceramics class, Ben Parker (’22) contributes his coil pottery piece. Enjoying the freedom of making this piece, Ben comments, “We were able to choose how the final piece turned out as long as the coil technique was used in building the structure. I chose to leave the coils showing, and atop with decoration.” Currently in the bisque stage, the pottery is dry and the structure complete, with Ben now working to pick his glaze. Though unfinished, this piece will soon be glazed and fired to create the final product.