DPS Citywide High School Art Show

DPS CIT YWIDE AR T SHOW

2021

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CIT YWIDE AR T SHOW

The 2021 Citywide High School Art Exhibition is an annual event featuring artists in grades 9th through 12th from across Denver Public Schools. Previously, this exhibition has been hosted in downtown Denver at the Wellington Webb Municipal Building. While we were unable to host an in-person show this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, we are proud of the work our teachers and students have produced over the past school year! This year’s show features artwork from 15 schools and 33 programs from across the district. There are 288 pieces on view (including 17 senior student portfolios), all submitted by our visual arts teachers. In addition to the art, the artist statements are an extension of students’ inspirations, ideas, and art methods. Collectively, the work expresses the resiliency of teachers and students during historically challenging times. This virtual show is a celebration of student art and our learning community.

The vision of Denver Public Schools Citywide Arts Events is to broaden students’ individual artistic experiences, exposing them to new and diverse perspectives. High School students in the Visual Arts are challenged to express their unique artistic voice and develop life-long connections to the arts while refining their technical and investigative skills. This year’s artwork provides a unique glimpse into students’ creative processes outside of the classroom.

Much of this art was created and documented by students during remote learning. Thus, the work is truly authentic to the students who created the artwork and expressive of their voice, choice, and agency in the arts.

We are grateful for the support of the Arts and PE Department for all Citywide events. Thank you to Alexandria Jimenez for lending us her substantial design skills in the creation of this exhibition catalogue. And finally, a big thank you to all our participating schools for taking part in this long-standing DPS tradition! We couldn’t do it without our dedicated arts teachers and students.

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TABLE OF CONTENT S

Abraham Lincoln | Cathryn Bay-Fowler 6-8 Bruce Randolph | Scot Nobles 9 Denver Center for International Studies at Baker | Susan Marion

10-11

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Early College | Judy Kelley

12-16

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Early College | Lori Presley

17-20

Denver School of the Arts | Jim Cliff

21-23

Denver School of the Arts | Marty Loftus

24-26

East | Molly Acker 27-28 East | Craig Ackley 29-31 East | Aimee Baker 32-34 East | Estee Bershof 35 East | Laura Klein 35-37 East | Alexandra Overby 38-40 Emily Griffith | Katie Weisberger 41-43 George Washington | Nolan Castanon

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George Washington | Stephanie Krause

44-45

Kenedy | Alyssa Kirstein 46 Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy | Emily Ayres

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Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy | Ashley Fulton

50-51

Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy | Abigail Harkey

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Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy | Jesse Preston

55-56

Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy | Jessica Widder

57-59

Noel Community Arts School | Hayley Krichels

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North | Melissa Calvert 61-64 North | Michelle Dame 65-67 North | Kari Searls 68-70 Northfield | Dustin Harper 71-73 Northfield | Alexandra Mamatas 74-76 Northfield | Joshua Sucherman 77-79 South | Kimberly Beckeman 80-83 South | Sarah Haney 84-87 South | Pablo Rivera 88-91 South | Andrea Vander-Fertgus 92-95 Summit Academy | Live Saetta 96-98

Eduardo M.C., 10th grade, “Eagle.” The Eagle is my Spirit Animal.

Felix L., 10th grade, “Best Leader Chan.” At first, I knew that I wanted to draw one of my favorite groups within the art style I like the most. So I went through photos, trying to find different ones to draw the face - like one with a mask, a blindfold, or with the whole face showing. After picking the sketch I liked the most, I tried to change up the style a bit and make it bigger. I started with the basic circle shape, to help guide where I was to draw the jawline and nose. Then I slowly started to add the rest of the face and the hair along with shading to try to define it more.

Francisco A., 12th grade, “Search for the Divine Eraser.” Here you see a very unique and superior class lead 2 pencil. However this is not your ordinary pencil, for this pencil has traveled every inch of the globe in search for a superior eraser. Those standards of the pencil have not been fulfilled, so it desperately wanders the globe in search of the divine eraser.

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Abraham Lincoln | Cathryn Bay-Fowler

Sarah M.T., 11th grade, “Little White House.”

For my project, I decided to do a landscape painting. I began with sketching the layout and where I wanted the house. I picked different colors that I normally wouldn’t use.

I contrasted blacks with pink. I tried to use more natural colors like green, but the black would bring down the brightness of the green. I kept repainting the clouds and sky.

The clouds were originally just white, but the pink made everything come together.

Jodeci G., 9th grade, “The Sunset Beach Walk.” For this digital collage I found a sunset background on the beach then I added little things. Dolphins jumping out of the water, a boat in the water, a person riding a unicorn on the sand, a dog chasing a cat.

I put a whole lot of things you would not expect to see.

Vianey P., 12th grade, “Homesick.” I miss my town. My drawing is me. I am transparent, so I don’t have clothes. My head is my town. I decided to fill myself with water because sometimes, I have problems and I sink.

I put charcoal in the background to highlight my drawing.

Abraham Lincoln | Cathryn Bay-Fowler

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Julissa L. D., 10th grade, “Stay.” For my final project I chose the genre of still life. The art medium was my favorite choice, as I chose drawing because I feel that this is the way I can further develop my artistic skills. The thumbnail sketch helped me know what kind of point of view I wanted to show in my project. Since I chose plants, I made an outline, and added details and color, until I obtained the final drawing.

Laisha J., 11th grade, “Greenery.” I wanted to do this with a person but I didn’t have anyone to do it with so I used this big bear I have in my room. I love plants and that is why I included them. There’s not really a story behind this but “nature” would be my theme.

Isobel G., 11th grade, “My Little Sister.”

My Project is a drawing of my sister Suro and the things that are important to her.

Monica S.O., 9th grade, “A Day in Rosyland.” My painting, “A Day in Rosyland,” was inspired by a current fantasy of mine in which there is an alternative Earth. This Earth is from a different universe where everything, including the way our society behaves, is different. In my painting, we can witness a pink person who could be considered more alien than human with flowers of several colors and sizes raining down. The alien has black eyes and almost no human features at all. It is genderless. The sky is split into two halves, because I believed it would look interesting if one side was lighter than the other. I wanted to create a harsh change between day and night. My intention was to make it unlike the Earth where day blends and transitions smoothly into night.

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Abraham Lincoln | Cathryn Bay-Fowler

Alexander M., 12th grade, “Pandemic Portrait.”

A mask can say a lot about a person.

Dashaun H., 12th grade, “A Constellation of the Mind.” I was inspired by street art, graffiti, and the vast expanse of the universe.

Cristal L., 12th grade, “Pandemic Portrait.” Portrait of

me after my grandmother.

Bruce Randolph | Scot Nobles

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Antonio S., 11th grade, “Brianna.” It’s my alley, and my rabbit, Brianna.

Darely M. C., 11th grade, “Marina”. This piece is inspired by a character that I created a few years ago called Marina. In this drawing I continued to use this cartoonish style but with more simplicity and flatter colors because I wanted to work on a simpler piece with fewer details.

Caleb C., 12th grade, “Soccer Player Chavez.” My favorite part of this art work is how my last name is on the back of the player’s jersey. This is my favorite part of the drawing because this is something I want to live for-my favorite number 7, and my last name Chavez, when I play professional soccer. I do not have any least favorite parts from this art work; I think it’s one of a kind and I really tried my hardest. My inspiration in creating this art piece is because the number 7 and Chavez on the back of a soccer jersey is something that has been in my life forever, and it means a lot to me because that is MY jersey. If I recreated this piece of art I would add a soccer field background because it goes with the jersey and theme. One concept I leaned was how to smudge out the color to create a smoky illusion. I also learned how to draw better and concentrate in the art piece. Actually, this art piece did surprise me; I did not know I was capable of drawing a good piece of work and smudging out the color to create a contrast.

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DCIS at Baker | Susan Marion

Darely M. C., 11th grade “A New Adventure” . One of my goals this year was to try digital art, which I have never done before. I chose a cartoonish drawing style with touches of anime. In my opinion it is one of the simplest styles to start with with this media. I was inspired by a character from a video game called Zhongli. I played with the characteristic colors of the character and use a lot of detail on it.

Isis M., 10th grade, “Inner Issues.” This is all my physical fears and what I find uncomfortable. The eyes are something that make me feel uncomfortable and as if i’m being watched even if no one’s around. The one in the middle is blood clots and blood in general. This bothers me because seing something being poured out and needing to be contained and safe can be like someone spilling themself out and causing harm to themself.

Josiah “JoJo” M., 10th grade, “Duwap Kaine, My Favorite Artist.” My favorite part of the artwork is the detail I put into it. My least favorite part is I wish I had made the picture bigger. My inspiration was Duwap Kaine, my favorite artist. Some concepts I learned was putting in full detail such as creases in the jacket, and different types of colors in the face and jacket. The final piece in general... I did not think it was going to come out, but it came out better than I expected. What I did to create this piece was use different materials, colors, and in depth detail.

DCIS at Baker | Susan Marion

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Andrea A. L., 12th grade, “Self Portrait”. For my symbolic self-portrait I added many things I am interested in and things that explain my personality and culture. In my chest I added a star and a tear drop because someone I am really close to has it and I wanted to add it since I was always interested in it when I was small. I add a rosary around my neck since I am Catholic and I always wear a rosary around my neck to embrace my religion. I added my zodiac sign which is a vigor. The yin and yang sign are my favorite because I love how it means that if they’re good there has to be a bad to make things balanced. I added a bookshelf because one of my favorite things to do is read. While I read, I listen to music to focus and to calm down. I also love to paint and draw in my free time. I added both my favorite anime which is Naruto and Hunter X Hunter because I love the messages they give. I always love the night so I added a moon since I feel like I can do anything I want at night and not disturb anyone. I made sure to add sunflower because that is my favorite flower and I added a butterfly since I find them beautiful.

Bryanah R., 10th grade, “Can’t Breathe”. “I can’t breathe” were the last few words George Floyd said before his brutal death by a police officer.

I decided to base my artwork on these quotes. In my art, I have a young colored lady with tape over her mouth which writes “I can’t breathe”. I used graphite as my overall media, with some splattered spots of water color to identify her color. The main thing I struggled with is because it’s black and white, her hair is a dark color. I couldn’t really get much detail that it was hair. My teacher suggested the technique of using an eraser to bring out some of the hair’s highlights. My goals for my art are to bring emotion to the viewer. This is a really meaningful piece and I hope when people view it they feel a bit of sadness, guilt, pain, because it’s natural to feel these emotions when thinking of people being abused. Overall, I loved how it came out. I believe this improved my art skill with graphite and it was a really fun project.

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DMLK | Judy Kelley

Cierra N., 10th grade, “Liberty and Justice for Who?” https://youtu.be/TILRNrvYUK0

Cierra N., 10th grade, “Expression of the Body”. You represent the unrepresented. You wear out your voice for the voiceless. You made this artwork not as an artist but as an activist. To show that your body, self-identification, your hair, or your struggles don’t define you. You’re not going to say that you should just love yourself on the inside because you’re beautiful just the way you are.

Although that is true, hearing that you have a lot to offer doesn’t always do the trick. Probably because someone else is telling you. It wouldn’t matter how you are viewed from the outside force if you appreciate what you view of yourself through your own eyes. The hard truth is your body is your body and that’s not changing, so might as well embrace it. You know that’s easier said than done. You know that it takes time, you know it takes advice, you know it’s a journey, but the result of self-love is something you couldn’t put a price on. You know that it’s something that can’t be lost once it is found. Nobody could ever love you more than you love yourself. So you think it’s time to reflect on the amount of love you actually have for yourself because again, that amount can never be topped by an outsider. Your name is Cierra Noel.

DMLK | Judy Kelley

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Karen G., 10th grade, “Self Portrait”. This is a symbolic portrait I did for my art class. I decided to draw symbols that represent me in tiles next to the self-portrait. I wanted to use a colorful palette in each tile. When I outlined the objects I painted, I purposely didn’t go in a full line and left dashes so it doesn’t look too harsh.

This piece was made with watercolors and a thin black pen for the outlines and was done on watercolor paper. I used a lot of inspiration and references from Pinterest for this piece. The biggest inspiration I took was from William Hart McNichol’s’ self-portrait. I didn’t go into full detail in the symbols I drew and went for a simpler look. My goal with this self-portrait was to make a skin color that matched me in real life. I’ve never mixed skin colors with watercolors before, but for my first time I think I’ve done pretty good.

1st tile: I painted a playlist on a phone because of my love for music I always have random playlists and like looking for new songs. 2nd tile: I painted a city in the night because I’ve always wanted to live in a big city and drive around with friends. 3rd tile: I painted a paint palette because I love to paint as you can see and I’ve always loved art and have recently started working with watercolors more.

4th tile: I painted a monarch butterfly because it represents support for undocumented immigrants such as my parents and most of my family, and I wanted to include that in my art. 5th tile: I painted myself writing in a journal because I journal a lot, specifically a bullet journal where I plan out the month/week. 6th tile: I painted my Polaroid camera because I love taking pictures in the moment and having them physically and not just on a screen. 7th tile: I painted a plant because I love plants even though I only have one now, I really want to have a collection. 8th tile: This tile I struggled with because I didn’t know what else to draw so I painted some daisies which fits because Spring is my favorite season (plus my cat’s name is Daisy). 9th tile: I painted a cross necklace because I’m catholic. 10th tile: I painted a sunset because they’re my favorite thing to paint and to look at. 11th tile: I painted my cat because she’s technically the first pet I’ve owned and I love her. Overall, I’m really proud of this piece because of all the hard work I put into it and trying out new techniques. I know that this will influence my future artwork because I’ve made a skin color shade, from the primary colors and brown and white, so in the future I’ll work more on painting faces of all skin colors.

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Damiana P., 11th grade, “The Climate is Changing So Why Aren’t We?”. Disability are human rights. Fight ignorance not immigrants. My body, my choice. Black life Matters. My ethnicity is not a virus.

DMLK | Judy Kelley

Vanessa R., 11th grade, “Freedom and Justice for All?”. The statue of liberty was a gift to the United States from France. This now famous monument was given to the US because it represented something important to France that they had in common with the United States of America; their shared positive-views and desires of liberty. Its purpose was to impact a certain group of people in a way that would allow them to be free within this system and union.

I painted this piece during the time we heard of George Floyd, an African-American man who was killed without reason on May 25, 2020. Protests, marches, and many more acts of awareness to obtain justice for George Floyd and for other innocent African-American victims of injustice, had been made across the globe. Through this art piece, I express my own perspective of today’s society. I started off by creating the African American version of the statue of liberty. I essentially sketched out my own understanding of the situation as I personally perceived it at the time. I drew half a bright blue sky and half a sky of ash to symbolize the fight of the moment.

I gave lady liberty a broken tablet with the phrase “FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR ALL” but isolated, as well as highlighted in red the words “FOR ALL” to represent that freedom and justice is not really available for all and that the United States had “broken” that promise when it came to certain races such as the African-American race. She is also pulled back by chains to represent that the United States is holding back on the promise of liberty and justice. The artwork portrays African American-Lady Liberty, breaking free from those ‘chains’ as a sign of strength and of achieving power by having her voice heard, which under current circumstances is something of great importance in our nation.

TuTu B, 12th grade, “Scale It Up.” For my art piece, my main focus was to shine a spotlight on a social justice issue that people know about but not everyone likes to focuses on or talk about; sex trafficking. I used Procreate to create this digital drawing. I started off with just the scale, then I designed the contrasting backgrounds, and finally I drew the girls. I wanted to portray them as just figures that represented all different people that could be in either situation, so I made them scribbles. I incorporated writing in the piece so that people could further visualize the difference in the situations these two girls faced. I want people to see that sex trafficking is happening right now and that if little things like wearing a mask can stir up so much emotion, the big/heavier topics like sex trafficing should stir up change and action.

DMLK | Judy Kelley

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Mekdes A., 11th grade, “Memories of Childhood”. This is the Wyland drawing I did for my art class. I drew flowers over sea creatures because we have a free choice for our class to do these projects, and I love flowers. Flowers are significant to me because they remind me of the days of my childhood. When I was young, I used to play with my friend at a flower place. In August and September, flowers would bloom. When we celebrate the Ethiopian New Year, we give flowers to other people to say “happy new year.” Flowers are not only connected to me but also my culture and memory. To do this project, I used color pencils, watercolor, sharpie, and pencil. The first thing I did was, sketch every flower with a pencil lightly and add the sharpness through the line and shape of flowers.

After that, I added the geometry shape over flowers. In the geometry area, I add colors with a colored pencil. Then add the watercolor to the rest of the area. Outside of the geometry area, I add pencil to shade and value through the flower shape. Overall, the project was fun which makes me happy to remember my childhood and culture.

Carlos V., 10th grade, “Symbolism of Birds”. For my Wyland project I decided to draw birds because they’re my favorite animals (depending on what type of species it is), the birds I picked as my reference photos are a blue jay, an evening grosbeak and an eastern bluebird. The materials I used to make my artwork is a mechanical pencil, a black maker, shading pencils, and coloring pencils. The first step into making my art piece was sketching out the reference photos onto the paper, second is sketching the birds with a black marker and erasing the leftover pencil markings, third is adding different sizes of circles on the birds and on the negative spaces, finally adding color inside the circles and adding shades on the birds. In the end, I am really proud of my artwork. I’ve put a lot of effort into making it look the way I wanted it to be, sure there were mistakes along the way, but those mistakes helped me create an art piece that really stands out to me. The birds I’ve chosen had meaning like what they symbolize, “The blue jay symbolizes truth, faithfulness, and solidarity because they are vigilant in their tasks”. “The grosbeak is a family bird and takes pride in the parenting process. These birds remind us, as a totem, to view family relationships as its own song”. Finally, the eastern bluebird symbolizes its blue color to bring peace and keep the negative energy away including joy, happiness, love, and admiration.

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DMLK | Judy Kelley

Ariane H.C., 11th grade, “Dedication.” I believe this is my best work since I used various uses of texture and color to truly incorporate my message. The techniques I used while creating this work were creative textures, contrast color, and I tried mishima. While creating this work I learned that patience is the key when trying to incorporate a neat piece of work. Something I would revise would be the width of my pot. I wanted to make it more wide but I maintained a width that would fit to the height of my work. Overall, I feel really proud of this work because the message behind it was really special and made a very special connection to me and what I wanted people to know about me.

Helen G.S., 11th grade, “10 Donuts.” I believe what makes this work higher level is the fact that I have different shapes, tons of contrast, and also the amount of pieces there are. I used coils to create one certain type of donut because I knew I wanted to do an interesting shape. Another technique I used was pinching and pulling. In order to make some of the donuts I had to pinch and pull them so they could have that hole in the middle along with a circular shape. One thing I liked about this assignment was that it required us to think bigger and outside the box. It was also somewhat challenging because we had never had to create so many pieces that all tie together to create unity.

Another thing I liked about my assignment was that all my pieces (except the box) connect to either myself or someone I have a strong connection with. One thing that I think I did well on was the concept and how it does go well together. Something I think I could’ve done better was worked on time management and also better craftsmanship.

DMLK | Lori Presley

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Yesenia J., 11th grade, “Burning Earth.” I believe this is my best work this year because it is very detailed and visible. The techniques I used while creating this work were paper templates and color theory. While creating this work I learned that markers and clay do not work well together, at all. Something I would revise would be to paint it and make the colors stand out more. Overall I feel really proud of this work because I took my time and thought out every detail with the design.

Edgar A, 12th grade, “The 2-Sided Landmark.” I believe this is my best work this year because I added a lot of texture and color to make it very intriguing. The techniques I used while creating this work were armature, stamping texture, and creating contrast. While creating this work I learned that I should challenge myself to add more texture to my work because it makes it so much better. Something I would revise would be to create 2 separate pieces for each landmark instead of just one.

Overall I feel really proud of this work because it is the piece that I added the most texture to and it is an eye-catching piece that is very beautiful.

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Emmanuel S., 10th grade, “Fire and Ice Flower.” I believe this is my best work this year because of the unique elements used in this work. The techniques I used while creating this work were slip and score and carving. While creating this work I learned that there are many ways to make your work more unique and creative. Something I would revise would be to make both sides more symmetrical. Overall I feel really proud of this work because of the different textures and elements I used.

DMLK | Lori Presley

Yoseline L. V., 10th grade, “Diamond Bear.” I believe this is my best work this year because I put in a lot of time and energy. The techniques I used while creating this work were creativity, slip and score, and found objects. While creating this work I learned that in order to create something you are proud of you have to put energy and effort. Something I would revise would be to maybe have put something different for the eyes. Overall I feel really proud of this work because it’s one of my most successful work.

Emmanuella A., 12th grade, “Cactus Pencil/Pen Holder.” If I could revise one aspect of my project I would have used different types of flowers. I was originally planning on using different types of flowers or the same but different colors for this project but unfortunately I wasn’t the one who bought the flowers. My mom got them for me for this project and I forgot to tell her to get them in different colors. The reason why I would have used different kinds of flowers that weren’t the same color is because I think it would have made the piece look more fun and interesting. My surface treatment shows a thoughtful connection to my form because I used materials connected to a cactus. The fabric I used to cover my piece was green which is the color of real-life cactus. I don’t really have a personal connection to my piece but it is a pen/pencil holder and I love pens. Something I would determine to be the most successful part of my finished work is the unconventional things I used to cover my work. I think it really tied everything together and made it look like an actual cactus. I could have made the same idea very different by changing the type of plant I created the holder into.

DMLK | Lori Presley

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Ashley G., 10th grade, Untitled. I’m using the coil patterns to control the viewer’s eye by making it noticeable about what I’m doing and about what the projects are about. I liked that we were able to use whatever culture we wanted to create this project. I think I did well on the being able to create different coil patterns.

Something I could have done better was creating the shape of the bowl . Something I could change or revise if I could do the assignment over would be doing the shape better and paying more attention in class when Ms. Presley said we should put a plastic bag over it before doing the project.

I believe I did a good job but I could have been better if only I had patience and if I had done it right the first time.

Tanya L., 11th grade, “Cultural Coils.” In my project, I incorporated spiral coils, line coils, braided patterns, and ball patterns. I used these patterns to represent Mexican culture through the braiding pattern. I liked how we were able to be flexible and creative on a project, connecting it to our cultural backgrounds. I think I did well on the coils and scoring itself because the patterns compliment each other well and are well connected. I could have done better on designing the handle to be more intricate and stronger since it came off as rather bland. If I could re-do my project, I would redesign the handle into something more creative and innovative.

Fatima I., 11th grade, “Coil Basket.” I used coil patterns to call attention to something by adding holes to one of the coils I added to my artwork. Something that I liked about the assignment was that I could be creative and combine different coil patterns to figure out what I wanted to add and what I did not want to add to my artwork because it helped me a lot when I did not have ideas on how I wanted my artwork to look. Something I think I did well on was creating the sides of my bowl because I used a bowl to help support my artwork while I was working on it. Something I could have done better was combining the red and white clay to make the handles because they did not come out how I wanted them to and I struggled a little while combining them. Something that I would change or revise if I could do the assignment over would be the handles to try to improve them.

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DMLK | Lori Presley

Emma K., 11th grade, “The Commuter.” This piece is part of my AP portfolio studying the ways in which an individual’s perspective influences the way they see the world around them. In this particular piece, I tried to give insight into the subject through my composition, with the color scheme, positioning, and negative space showing a distant, dreamy personality.

Ariadna J. A., 10th grade, “A Visit to the Dentist.” I wanted to illustrate my feelings of anxiety and fear toward getting 4 of my teeth taken out. I used black and white to help invoke those feelings as well as pen and ink to imitate a more comic book page style.

Genisis C.D., 11th grade, “Uncomprehensible.” This art piece represents my past and my present. It is the blurriness of my dreams and the memories I share with it.

DSA | Jim Cliff

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Sidney S., 11th grade, “Whatcha Thinkin’ About”? While traveling, I noticed people around me sleeping, which caused me to wonder what they may be dreaming about. Everyone has a subconscious, and I find it very interesting to imagine what other people may be thinking. Many people had their TVs on while they slept, and I was curious as to how that influenced their thoughts. This is more of an explorative piece rather than a concrete message about something.

Emilina V., 9th grade, “Green Skeleton.” One of our projects was to do an observational piece of a skeleton.

I didn’t really have much going through my head while I was doing this, other than trying to get a good range of values and making something that pops out color-wise.

Charlize L.T., 9th grade, “An Afternoon On 16th Street.” I tried to capture the detail in an empty 16th Street Mall while embracing the imperfections and more human nature through jagged lines.

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DSA | Jim Cliff

Ian G., 11th grade, “Heart of the City.” This composition uses complex perspective and negative space to explore New York City during the rise of urbanization and consumerism in the late 1900s.

Maren S., 9th grade.

“Skeleton Study.” I only managed to burn myself twice.

Isis S., 9th grade, “Soaked in Symmetry.”

This piece shows a human form in the center, surrounded by natural and celestial elements; it emphasizes the symmetry, reflection, and interconnection that exists between us and forces of nature.

MinSuh K., 10th grade, “Malleable.” For this piece, I focused on my personal insecurities, about how I sometimes wish that I could pinch and sculpt my facial features to look how I want.

DSA | Jim Cliff

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Antonia P, “Untitled”

Owen M., 12th grade, “Pain and Agony.”

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Tatiana M., 10th grade, “Last Stop.” This piece was inspired by my love of horror and exploring life in a post-industrial world in which humans have become more connected to the machines we created. In it, I interpret a subway train as an eldritch abomination, swallowing its passengers while a lone figure listens to music and accepts their fate.

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DSA | Marty Loftus

Sophia P., 12th grade, “A Dying Plantae.” This piece was created as a representation of both the synesthetic connection between sound and images as well as the unseen energetic life force of plants and nature. First, after coming across new technology that allows the electromagnetic waves of plants to be converted into music, I researched examples of these devices being used and came across one video of someone listening to the sounds of a dying plant. The plant was being eaten by parasites, and it’s sounds were compared to those of the same plant next to it which was not yet being eaten. The music of the dying plant sounded dark, hollow, and vast, and I attempted to replicate those images and those feelings in this piece.

Joshua S., 12th grade, “Rain.” This piece examines a memory I have with my brother, in which we took shelter from a storm. I used the piece to investigate my relationship and experiences with my brother as a whole. I utilized heavily thinned paint, allowing it to drip down the wet canvas, creating an atmosphere of oppression and weariness.

Isabella E., 12th grade, “Medical Mystery.” The work “Medical Mystery” aims to illustrate the unexplainable within the medical field. A diagnosis needs to be backed up and provided by science, but what happens when we can’t connect academia to what’s happening within our bodies? This work presents the perspective that this scenario could be described as one of life’s many out-of-body experiences.

DSA | Marty Loftus

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Corvo C., 12th grade, “Death Illuminated.” This piece is about the feeling of a panic attack coming on. The nudity representing vulnerability and death reaching out to touch you. The silicone hand was made by putting my hand in a bucket of alginate, pouring silicone into the cast and then painting the silicone.

Gavin C., 12th grade, “A Dark Mug of Ale - The Miller’s Tale.”

This piece speaks to the crude character of a drunken miller.

I painted directly onto an old panel from a vintage wine crate, choosing to involve my subject and media with each other. By using a classical approach in my painting, I seek to connect my piece to a time when Europe was about to fall into the Renaissance as well.

Collin H., 12th grade, “Jazlene.” I chose to photograph my close friends, and then use legos to create abstract expressions of the way I view them. For this I chose to look at Jazlene’s skull and contrast that with her face.

Astrid M., 12th grade, “Common Octopus!” The metamorphosis created through my pieces is meant to represent the necessary change that needs to occur in order to preserve this endangered species, the common octopus, which is not so common. The burning shows the damage human development has caused to the species as a whole. However, the bright colors and rebirth of the octopus show that positive change can still be made.

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DSA | Marty Loftus

Jezebel P. R., 10th grade, “Perch.” I wanted to try my hand at an accurate human figure. To make it unique I chose a mask & unsettling pose, calling to mind a bird. What makes any of us different from an animal?

Farrah N., 9th grade, “No title.” I hope this brings you joy!

Annie S., 10th grade, “Scene at Night.” The scene that I chose to draw is one that brings me comfort & and a sense of tranquility. The soft light coming from the sign contrasting with the overall darkness of the piece illustrates the feeling that I wanted. The goal of the piece was for the viewer to experience what I feel when I look at the scene.

East | Molly Acker

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Kai S., 10th grade, “Silent Meadow.” A place of bliss, my place of bliss. Where the sky roams fading blues. Where a road distances itself from a valley of flourishing greens.

Where wildflowers dance freely, where song birds drum to the beat of their own chirping. Where the clouds meet eye to eye, tender at the touch. From its highs and lows, I hear nothing but peace chattering away. This is my place of bliss.

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Stella N., 10th grade, “No Title”. As I look up I see the purple clouds, the flowers fill the frame like a crowd. The river flows as my mind wanders. Where did the mountains go? Did they leave with the trees? Or fly away with the bees? The scene alters along with time.

East | Molly Acker

Grace W., 12th grade, “Bird.” Environmental awareness Grace W., 12th grade, “Endangered Turtle.”

Environmental awareness

Hanzi W., 12th grade, Untitled. Exploration of slabs and texture East | Craig Ackley

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Jack T., 12th grade, “Endangered.” Each letter represents and has an endangered animal and their environment on it.

Annika S., 12th grade, Untitled.

Pot with bumps on the rim. Study of surface design.

Lauren G., 11th grade, Untitled. Exploration using slabs and creating space within the piece.

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East | Craig Ackley

Katie C., 12th grade, Untitled. Plate and Bowl set with black dots

Isabel L., 12th grade, “COVID.” Virus.

Amelia S., 12th grade. Mocca Diffusion with cobalt

East | Craig Ackley

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Anna N., 10th grade, “Untitled”. Clarity in what we see and experience - those little moments of joy, hope, optimism, and love for those special beings in our life.

D’Quan M., 10th grade, “Topsy-Turvy.” Showcasing ourselves and who we are is never an easy thing. While this year felt very upside down, it felt only natural to change the perspective.

Siena B., 10th grade, Untitled. Incorporating light in a photograph is so important. Light can communicate such strong emotions and moods. While I have never been very confident with taking pictures of myself, I have embraced the freedom to showcase who I am in a new way.

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East | Aimee Baker

Samuel D.B., 10th grade, “Water.” The other world that’s being reflected beneath me captivates my imagination and my longing for simplistic happiness.

Fredric K., 11th grade, “Weightless.” Capturing that moment in time, the instant speed and gravity work simultaneously to create magic, almost too fast to see with our eyes. The excitement I feel scrolling through my images.

Sloan P. A., 10th grade, “Leche.” Illusions have always interested me. My quest to create my own illusions, or better yet, ‘distractions,’ throughout this past year have taken over. The most basic ingredients found within my kitchen have proven to create some of my favorite photographs from this year.

Ruby S., 11th grade, “Untitled”. I have been my own greatest struggle this year. I have never had such a prolonged experience of not being able to do a lot of the things I love and being with my friends and family. At times I have felt lonely or anxious, but knowing that the entire world is going through the same thing can be comforting

33 East | Aimee Baker

Livia R.A, 10th grade, “Starry Night.” My little cabin in the woods - even seen from afar, those stars, that sky, the silence echoing in my ears all the way down the path.

Lila P., 9th grade, “Patterned.” How do we stay composed and focused? Mindfulness and being calm, being in the moment is what this year has been all about.

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Lee M., 10th grade, “Untitled”. Venturing on my own, away from the expected, I’m amazed at patterns and the mindless everyday repetition that we rarely stop and appreciate. As the world slowed down, it became apparent that humans were the only ones to really notice.

East | Aimee Baker

Landon W, 10th grade, “Beasty.” The

goal of Beasty is to spread positive messages to people. In the world today we are told we aren’t good enough, but Beasty is about being yourself without worrying about others’ opinions.

Aerin P., 11th grade, “Dinner.” In this drawing, I illustrated a big problem when it comes to eating fish: bycatch. Nets that are used to catch your dinner catch many animals that aren’t fish which get caught and killed, called bycatch. I chose to present a cooked fish one may eat next to a turtle caught in a net similar to the one that was used to catch the fish to represent the relationship between your dinner and the side effects that we don’t see.

Sierra R.H., 10th grade, Untitled. I chose to only focus on the mouth because I wanted the piece to show that my voice should be heard.

I shaded using the word BLM and used a newspaper article about race under my piece to show that racial equality is important and should be a basic right.

Kaia H., 10th grade, “Candle in the Dark.” I wanted to make something that was realistic but also slightly disturbing since this was meant to be a surrealism piece. I also wanted there to be a lot of focus on contrast, as well as what imperfect symmetry could look like on an artwork like this one.

East | Estee Bershof /Laura Klein

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Grace C., 11th grade, “A Young Justice.” As a pillar of justice I wanted to show that she’s not only intellectually strong but she’s also a beautiful person who can be feminine as well.

Aidan P., 12th grade, “A Strange Unfamiliar Face.” When I sat down to make this piece I had no idea what I was planning on making. I gave myself a space to create anything without pressure or judgment. I didn’t have to worry about making it look like something else or striving for realism, I just wanted to make something new.

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Evelyn E., 12th grade, “Hair Clips.” This is a portrait of my friend who likes to occasionally style her hair with hair clips as a way to express herself and her femininity.

It is meant to show that expressing the more feminine side of oneself isn’t a bad thing and that it should be embraced and celebrated.

East | Laura Klein

Ericka J., 11th grade, “Hyena Haven.” A slightly surrealistic approach to a hyena portrait made with charcoal and graphite

Annette H.H, 11th grade, “Ketsia.” This is a portrait of my foster sister Ketsia. She means a lot to me and I look up to her a lot.

Ani H., 10th grade, “Chaos of Bounded Time.” I created this piece with the mindset of how controlling and unsettling the idea of time can be. It can often get overwhelming and feel like everything is falling apart. I wanted to represent this idea in a surreal way to show how abstract time can also be.

East | Laura Klein

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Brad K., 12th grade, “Private Parking.” Within Park Hill, lies the beauty of many things, old and new. I tried to capture this beauty and add my own style.

This image is of things that people don’t usually think are beautiful because they see them every day. The monotony of the cityscape drowns out some of these objects, so I’m just here to give them time in the spotlight.

Camille D., 12th grade, “A Broken Perception.”

This piece is part of my AP Portfolio that centers on the struggle to maintain mental health. Sometimes a person will create a fake persona to mask their true state, but that facade can break and the real person starts to emerge.

Maya A., 12th grade, “At Eternity’s Gate.” Within my piece “At Eternity’s Gate”, I wanted to welcome my viewer into the hands of the divine. A finishing piece of my AP portfolio, I wanted to show how close our connection to the divine truly can be if we simply open our eyes to what is already there. After a whole portfolio of looking up to the heavens for assistance, now the heavens look down upon you, with open arms, welcoming you in.

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East | Alexandra Overby

Lucia F., 11th grade, “The Journey.” This piece is about exploring a new area and capturing the movement through the space.

Jude W., 11th grade, “Escape.” This piece is about free thinking and using your mind to escape reality. I made it to express my feelings of being trapped in a body that doesn’t align with my identity.

Rita P., 12th grade, “Iris.” This is an image from my AP Portfolio. This piece is representing Iris, the goddess of sky and rain. I used the cloudy sky as a backdrop and the umbrella on a sunny day to show contrast and symbolism. I wanted this piece to feel light and airy to represent the goddess and her element.

Chloe B., 12th grade, “Vanity.” This is an image from my AP portfolio in which I explored the negatives of trying to find happiness, especially with vanity/beauty.

East | Alexandra Overby

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Joey S., 12th grade, “Insomnia.” This is a piece from my AP Portfolio in which I’m investigating daily struggles and illustrating them as intimidating as I can. For this image it was sleep. I tried to incorporate many issues of sleep like insomnia and sleeping too much since there’s not just one way of struggling with sleep.

Jasper S., 12th grade, “Slendy.” My intention with this piece was to explore and bridge the gap between real and fiction, specifically to create a connection between humans and supernatural creatures. Because of the nature of fiction, there is an inherent boundary placed between its characters and humanity, so I attempted to depict an interaction between the two as if it were natural, creating a world in which the real and supernatural can coexist together as one.

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Fabian S., 12th grade, “Air.” My AP portfolio consisted of combining the elements in nature with specific photo techniques to give it the desired picture. This image is about visualizing the idea of air. It also addresses practice due to the patience and timing I had to work on with the outside elements to shoot the perfect photo. For example, I often had to wake up early in the morning to take a photo of fog in order to illustrate the concept air.

East | Alexandra Overby

Mikayla H., 11th grade, “A Ray of Sunshine.” When days are gloomy and nights are stormy I look and see a smile that brightens up my life with joy and pure happiness.

Fais M., 12th grade, “Hopeful.” My intention behind this photograph was to make him look and feel confident, and to communicate a feeling that there is hope.

Ty D., 11th grade, “Two Minds, One Body.” I wanted to make it seem as if a new version of me was breaking out of its mirror prison. I was in a state of depression for a while but when I finally got help and started talking to people, I felt better than my past self.

Emily Griffith | Katie Weisberger

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Miranda D., 11th grade, “Greater Horizons.” My analogy for life can be described as a road. There will be bumps, roadblocks and forks but we have to keep on driving. It’s about overcoming obstacles and keeping the future in mind when things don’t go as planned.

The speed we travel at and the turns we take will ultimately affect the journey to the destination.

Ty D., 11th grade, “Isolation.” I wanted the viewer to have a sense of loneliness and isolation when they looked at this photo. I chose to add a red filter because it added an ominous feeling.

Teja Y.H, 12th grade, “Connection.” This is a connection between two sisters making a promise to each other that no matter what we will have each others’ backs in this world.

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Abel L, 12th grade, “Fly Over.” I enjoy taking landscape pictures because they allow me to just live in the moment and appreciate the little things.

Emily Griffith | Katie Weisberger

l’Asiah M., 12th grade, “Utopian Landscape.” My utopia is very colorful, with a lot of trees because trees are the best. Buildings are sparse, and there are hills and mountains and a beautiful sky full of stars to look at. The buildings and roads that are there are colorful and complimentary of the Earth. There are people actually talking to each other, children actually playing outside. Nature has more of a presence than architecture, and the people live in harmony with the other species in this world.

Xzavier M, 11th grade, “The Light.” God creates the beauty, and my camera and I are just the witness.

l’Asiah M., 12th grade, “Tree of Life.” I like to call this project my “Tree of Life,” and I love the irony in the title. I drew inspiration from a local artist named Curtis Killorn, who brings new life to dead trees by painting them in eye-catching colors from head to toe. With this dead Tree of Life, I wanted to show that just because something no longer flourishes does not mean it is not beaming with life. You just have to choose to see the beauty in everything around you and your world will be filled with life. This tree is in the middle of its rebirth, as the bright colors in the branches grow and begin to bring it a new life.

Emily Griffith | Katie Weisberger

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Ry S., 11th grade, “Restore the Balance.” Exploring the balance of nature, and society’s role in that balance, “Restore the Balance” showcases a dam with a large crack through it. I believe that dams destroy environmental balance, and restrict the natural movement and flow of nature. In this piece I wanted to highlight the failure of dams, and how the only way to bring back the balance of nature and rivers is to remove society’s obstruction. The thin font of the letters furthers the idea of balance, and provides a clear and bold message.

Kimoria D, 9th grade, “Untitled”. This photo was of my sister. I put two lights that I had that I didn’t really use and I had her sit in the middle and I took a whole bunch of pictures. I was trying to accomplish the two different light colors on her face. I think I did a pretty good job and I wouldn’t change anything about it.

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Aliyah M., 10th grade, “Toxic.” This piece is meant to reflect spirituality and transformation. The snake represents death, eternity, and rebirth.

The snake is also meant to symbolize the death of toxicity, getting rid of what holds you down and hurts you, more specifically who. She has a bite on her neck and is turning into a snake-like being, which is meant to symbolize her bonding with her spirituality and true self, ending the things or people who harm her and becoming stronger. This deals with the concept of Night Vision because spiritual performances are usually done at night. The nighttime is the time where you can truly connect with yourself and reflect, envision who you want to be, and dream. It’s where your darkest self is brought to light.

Nash S., 11th grade, “Untitled”. My photo shows me holding my friend against the wall using “The Force”. I created this illusion by having different layers to my photo using a layer mask. I was trying to make a funny photo that tricks your brain into thinking that I am using the force like in Star Wars.

I achieved what I wanted in this photo because it looks real and interesting to the viewer.

George Washington | Nolan Castanon \ Stephanie Krause

Callie S., 10th grade, “Untitled”. In this piece, I created many different logos for my friends and logos that represent my art style. I used an Apple pencil and an iPad to create these with the help of some inspiration from my friends. I began by asking my friends to describe themselves and used what they said and our own experiences together to create their logo. I love using bright colors, the cartoon style, and experimenting with highlights, so I incorporated that in each logo. Many of the contents in the logo are inside jokes which I think makes them very special because only a few special people will understand the pieces completely. The pieces may confuse the viewers but that’s what I like about them. I want the viewers to have to think to understand the work, and hopefully see the personalities and qualities of each of my friends.

Emelia (Em) C, 10th grade, “Untitled”. The image is a mosiac of a blue and gold macaw. I used the pen tool in Illustrator to create triangles around areas with the same colors. I then used the eye dropper tool to choose the color to fill in the triangles. Unfortunately, the triangles didn’t form on the first try and needed to be redone. I picked a bird because I really like birds and would like to get parrots later in life. I wanted the picture to be very detailed and it ended up being really really nice and detailed.

Joshua L.L, 12th grade, Untitled.

This is a photo I took for my photography class. The project was about light so I decided to do something cool. I used the gift I got from a friend and asked my brother to hold it high with a string. I then took a nice picture and photoshopped the string out and did some tiny edits. For something that took my just a tiny bit of time, I really like how it came out.

Dahlia L, 10th grade, “Untitled”. This photo was taken on a sunny evening when I saw some light coming through a mosaic window. I originally wanted to take the photo of my dog but he didn’t cooperate so I grabbed my sister to be my model. The photoshoot lasted all of five minutes and the light was gone. Later, I went back to edit them and fell in love with the way the photo looked in black and white. I learned from this photo that the best photos can be the ones that aren’t planned.

George Washington | Stephanie Krause

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Alena A., 10th grade, “The Backpack - Gun Violence Awareness”. With a new story about gun violence in the news every week, I wanted to create something that expresses what High School students are feeling when we enter the school every day. The prompt for this project was inspired by the Guerilla Girls’ project The Art of Complaining. I wanted to make art that sparks a conversation and asks people to think and talk about hard topics. Society can’t ignore what is happening and we can’t be silenced. I believe that gun laws need to be addressed and reformed and our schools wont truly be safe until we are heard and protected.

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Kennedy | Alyssa

Celica M., 11th grade, “Gouche on paper”. When I think of this painting I imagine it feeling kind of warm with a cool breeze making the flowers sway in the wind.

Cynthia M., 12th grade, “Digital Media”.

This piece is to frame the dynamic between Patchy the pumpkin-head and Chiharu the poltergeist. Since Patchy loves both gardening and cooking, I tried to make her outfit reflect functionality and fashion at the same time.

Halima M., 10th grade, “Photography”. Black Lives Matter.

KCAA - Emily Ayres

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Christina M., 10th grade, “Marriage Equality”. Did you know that same-sex marriage wasn’t legalized in all 50 states until June of 2015? It’s hard to believe that this was barely five years ago. It took this long for people part of the LGBTQ community to get a right they should’ve had a long time ago. This mixed media drawing expresses my opinion that same-sex couples deserve to have a right to get married as much as any heterosexual couple. The book/diary in the center symbolizes the hidden truths of same-sex couples and marriage for them. It’s been locked up and put away from the world to see, until it is unlocked and overpowers everything that was against it, represented by the books against same sex marriage that are below the book/diary in the center. I have used the the technique of bird’s eye view in my artwork by drawing the books like someone is looking straight down at them. Everybody deserves happiness, so it’s not right to take a right away from someone just because of who they are. We’re all equal and should all be treated with respect and kindness.

Melanie M., 10th grade, “digital media”. Discrimination comes in many different forms, one of which being against women.

Women deserve a chance to show that they can do anything a man can do. There are people out there that believe that women are “made for the kitchen” to be maids for the “stronger gender” when women can help everyone and everything just as well as a man can. My artwork is a media called embroidery with a symbol I made myself. I didn’t have pink to represent that “girly” color so I used purple instead and blue as the “boyish” color. This dual perspective piece has yellow where the colors of the women’s symbol overlap the business suit. Yellow is a more gender neutral color so I used it to show that no matter if it’s a girl or a boy they can hold power and respect just like the other can. Don’t judge anyone because of their gender. Any and everyone can achieve what they want to do just like everyone else. If anything be a support for those who seem to be struggling with the cookie cutter world we live in. A little goes a long way.

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Evan W., 11th grade, “The Seeker”. Through my pieces I’m creating a journey of this warrior named The Seeker who fights these giant creatures and god-like beings in order to collect items to eventually restore his burnt down village and to revive more of his kind who were killed by enemy forces. Throughout this journey I intend to display ideals and themes of bravery, omnipotence, chaos and reconstruction. I create all my pieces with ink , sharpie and colored pencils KCAA - Emily Ayres

FayeEtta J., 11th grade, “Digital Media”. My topic was toxic femininity and masculinity. In my opinion anyone can dress and act the way they feel. Many of us have grown up being told to “act like a lady” or “be a man,” to wear dresses because you are a girl or to wear suits and ties because you are a man. I feel that this generation is starting to put a stop to this and I am very much glad to see the change happening. For my art piece I wanted to do something empowering in a way and because I haven’t drawn girls for awhile I thought I would challenge myself a bit and draw a girl in a suit. The perspective points I used were atypical eye-level perspective, and worm’s eye view. Toxic masculinity and femininity is a thing, and is something that shouldn’t be. Just because you are a boy or a girl doesn’t mean that you have to wear, like, or act a certain way. This is something that we need to break as a society and break these barriers of ¨looking presentable¨ for society’s sake and start liking, dressing and acting the way you feel is comfortable to you.

Ariana K., 11th grade, “Digital Media”.The idea of mental health is a large part of this overarching story. Servanna [one on left who is a god of the sun] and Letifer [one on right who is based off of death/grim reaper] are gods along with two more. Here, the theme overall is helping to cope with mental health since there are different ways people deal with mental health whether it be help from others or trying to do it on your own.

Gene K., 11th grade, “Digital Media”. Self expression is a beautiful thing, a peephole into the personality of oneself. This comes with no error, no consequence because at the end of every passing day, only you have a say in how you wish to be perceived.

KCAA - Emily Ayres

Anh H., 11th grade, Untitled. I want to know all the ways I can show what it is to be human in the most magical way possible, or at least create things people enjoy too.

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Cain P., 9th grade, “Frnk and Gee”. Frnk was made as the final part of the Imaginary Friend project. I was able to get felt in the correct color for its main body but I had to dye the legs, arms, and tail to have a gradient. I started that process by mixing up water and fabric paint in an old container. I then took the pieces (they were freshly cut from the felt at this point) and got them fully wet with normal water. I clipped a clothespin on the top of the limb and carefully dipped the lower half of the felt into the paint mixture before hanging it up to dry so the painted half would drip down. That was left to dry overnight. Once the pieces were done I sewed them together, embedded a wire, and the rest is history. The hardest part of making Frnk was the head and shirt. I had to make the head (and neck) twice after a minor breakdown. It’s shirt reads “homophobia is gay.” I got this quote from Frank Lero, a musician that I based much of this character off of. Frnk is moderately poseable and is able to stand on its own. Making Gee was a similar process but he was significantly easier. Frnk had gradients in its limbs but Gee was just a solid white (to begin with). I made all the pieces for Gee and stitched him together like a normal doll, then went in with a paintbrush and a water-paint mixture in grey. I painted on Gee’s stripes and “sock” color pattern. The most fun thing about Gee’s creation was painting on his eyes. Frnk’s eyes are just yellow pieces of felt I stitched on with an embroidered pupil while Gee had his eyes painted directly onto the felt with fabric-safe paint. Gee’s clothing definitely took more time to finish but it was much easier than Frnk’s. Gee’s character was, like Frnk, inspired by a musician I like: Gerard Way. Frnk or Frank (because it is a character too) is part of a bigger story I’m starting to develop. Frank was born in Belleview, New Jersey and was raised with their brother Atlas by their father. Frank plays the drums in a band with it’s brother and best friend/ eventual partner. Atlas plays the guitar and Gee, their friend, plays the bass guitar and sings. Frank works as a social worker with a specialty in trauma counseling, and advocates for minority rights in their free time. Gee also grew up in Belleview and had a peaceful childhood. He met Frank in middle school and they’ve been friends ever since. Gee works as an art teacher at his old high school when he’s not practicing with the band or hanging out with Frank.

KCAA | Ashley Fulton

Jasper Y., 9th grade, “3-Eyed Skull”. I made a skull planter mostly because I thought it would look cool, but I guess it could have a ‘life after death’ meaning. I really like having a white skull with blue undertones with a red inside so that’s what I did.

Anna Z., 9th grade, “Contour Line Self-Portrait in Wire”. This is a wire self-portrait based off of a contour line drawing.

KCAA | Ashley Fulton

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Alexa G., 10th grade, “Untitled”. Students created avatars for themselves, superheroes to fight social injustices. They designed a comic book page to illustrate their knowledge of character design, story telling, color theory, and page layout.

Alexa G., 10th grade, “Untitled”. Inspired by the work of Jose Guadalupe Posada, students created social commentary artworks featuring calaveras, or skeletons, as stand-ins for contemporary society

Alexandra F. P., 10th grade, “Untitled”. Inspired by the work of Jose Guadalupe Posada, students created social commentary artworks featuring calaveras, or skeletons, as stand-ins for contemporary society 52

KCAA - Abigail Harkey

Christina M., 10th grade, “Untitled”. Students learned the basics of aerial, one, and two point perspective in this unit. They applied their new skills to the creation of interior, exterior, and fantasy environments.

Jatzari A., 10th grade, Untitled. Students learned the basics of aerial, one, and two point perspective in this unit. They applied their new skills to the creation of interior, exterior, and fantasy environments.

Jocelyn D., 10th grade,

Jocelyn D., 10th grade, “Untitled”. Inspired by the work of Jose Guadalupe Posada, students created social commentary artworks featuring calaveras, or skeletons, as stand-ins for contemporary society.

Marissa A., 10th grade, Untitled. Students learned the basics of aerial, one, and two point perspective in this unit. They applied their new skills to the creation of interior, exterior, and fantasy environments.

KCAA - Abigail Harkey

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Kiet P., 10th grade, Untitled. Students learned the basics of aerial, one, and two point perspective in this unit.

They applied their new skills to the creation of interior, exterior, and fantasy environments.

Luisa E,. 10th grade, Untitled. Students created avatars for themselves, superheroes to fight social injustices. They designed a comic book page to illustrate their knowledge of character design, story telling, color theory, and page layout

Tabitha M., 10th grade, Untitled. Students learned the basics of aerial, one, and two point perspective in this unit. They applied their new skills to the creation of interior, exterior, and fantasy environments.

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KCAA - Abigail Harkey

Gabe D., 11th grade, “Tencent vs. Blizzard”. This artwork was created in Pixlr for a photo manipulation project and depicts the battle between Tencent and Blizzard Gaming

Lana V., 12th grade, “Odd Couple Show Poster Design”. This artwork was created to promote our schools virtual performance of ‘The Odd Couple’

Marissa B., 12th grade, “The Outskirts”. We created this art as part of an original font design project

KCAA | Jesse Preston

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Juan A., 9th grade, “Can’d Aid Aluminum Can Design”. This artwork was created for the ‘Can’d Aid Campaign’ using SketchPad

Meraly S. M., 11th grade, “The Wall”. This artwork was created for a photo manipulation project using Pixlr, and depicts a ‘Wall Titan’ from ‘Attack on Titan’ hidden behind a wall of cans at the grocery store.

Sid P., 11th grade, “Influential Portrait”. This portrait was drawn in SketchPad for an ‘Influential Portrait’ assignment 56

KCAA | Jesse Preston

Jenamya M., 10th grade, “Sunday”. I made my soundsuit, inspired by Nick Cave, based on how I think my anxiety would look. I named it Sunday after a song called “Why are Sundays so depressing” by The Strokes, a band that I love.

When wearing the suit you will feel more relaxed and feel safe. I used watercolor so it had a watered down look to it and seem a bit soft looking. Although the suit represents my anxiety, I took a lot more of my inspiration from the music that I listened to while creating this. I listened to artist such as Deftones, MItski, The Strokes, Joy Division, and a few more.

Esmeralda M. D., 10th grade, “Behind the Rose”.

There isn’t a big meaning behind my artwork.

I love flowers, especially roses. Besides simply liking roses, they really remind me of a family member who is special to me. I thought it would be fun to draw a rose from behind since many draw roses from a front point of view, and it could be a little different. The main obstacle while drawing this rose was the time I was drawing this, it would usually be at a very late time. Overall I definitely did put a lot of effort into my art. I used colored pencils in my art. I really like the process of blending colors and as a person, helps me relax. I’m proud of my art and I think it turned out pretty decent.

Melanie M., 10th grade, “All seeing”. When given the project to paint with unusual materials, I didn’t know what to use. At first I was going to use some spices or fruit then I remembered that the day before it had snowed. I knew it would be muddy in my backyard since it’s mostly dirt so that’s when I knew what material I wanted to use. I of course asked my mom if I could basically paint on the wall with mud. She was curious about what I had planned since I sounded a little crazy when asking to smear mud on the wall but she gave me the “go ahead”.

Before going outside I grabbed my sketchbook, I wanted to paint one of my practice sketches of simple eyes.

Then, because I didn’t want to get too messy, I grabbed some gloves and began to go to work. It was kind of hard making this since it was still cold outside and the sun wasn’t hitting the side of the house I was working on so my hands kept freezing. I also was using a table as my step stool to the height of the eye. Even though these were the conditions I still kept getting mud and painting it on. After I was pleased with the shape of the brow and the eye I wanted to make the highlight out of snow. It had failed the first time when I tried taking a picture because the snow fell off. I reapplied the snow and quickly took this picture. Overall I’m proud of this piece since it was a big project and it looks good. My mom actually hasn’t washed it away yet because she thinks it looks good too. I had a lot of fun with this project and definitely will push myself to make other big projects like this.

KCAA | Jessica Widder

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Alexa G. R., 10th grade, “Girl with Snake”. For this project I decided to draw a reference picture off of Pinterest of a girl holding a snake covering her left side of the face. I found this picture having the same things I wanted to practice on, hands, face, and watercolor blending. I got inspired by the way the girl was posing with the snake. Though it was a challenge, the videos that I watched helped me better my technique with drawing hands, blending, and drawing faces from different angles. I first sketched the drawing to have a layout of where everything will be placed, then drew the face, hand, and the snake. After that, I drew the face in layers by having darker places and lighter places to show highlight and shadow. Finally, I drew the hand the same way, the shirt by adding shadow, and the snake by adding a light sage green color then adding yellowish lines and darker greens for shadow, along with using a gel pen to highlight the eyes and the hair. Some problems I faced was that I wouldn’t wait the time it took for the water color to dry causing the paint to bleed into the color already on the paper. The videos and drawing taught me to have a bit more patience for the outcome to look good and the way you want it. The message i’m overall trying to convey is that patience is key to a great ending. What I think I can improve on is adding more details to the hair and waiting more for the colors to dry to make the color on top more apparent but what I am most proud of is adding better details than my last watercolor drawing that I had previously created.

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Jocelyn D., 10th grade, “Outside the Lines”. I chose to make a digital art project using painting tools, something I was unfamiliar with. I sketched out the shape of the person, then used facial guidelines in order to pinpoint where his features needed to be. I struggled finding the correct colors and finding a way to blend them so he could look more realistic. In the future I’d like to work on blending the colors so they look more natural as well as shading the face with both pencil and colors.

KCAA | Jessica Widder

Iliana M. G., 10th grade, “Crow”. I choose to learn how to draw feathers, and how to add details because this is something I don’t usually practice and I’m very bad at. I choose to draw a crow because I’ve been seeing them around lately and I really like them. I started by drawing one without any help from anything. Then I watched some tutorials and used some images for help on my progress picture.

Finally a few days later I tried putting everything I learned on a final drawing. An obstacle I had was not finding very good tutorials. I ended up using my phone to find other tutorials that were not on the school computer youtube. I don’t think I have an art style yet but I would say I enjoy painting more than drawing with pencil at the moment. If I were to do this again, I would add more progress pictures. I only added three because I was more focused on the final thing. And, something I’m proud of is what I learned from the tutorials.

Luisa E. H., 10th grade, “Moon and Stars”. In my artwork I decided to use pencil in order to create shadow and highlights.

I did this because this is what I feel I’m more proficient at.

Although there were still some struggles I came upon when I was trying to make the whole face proportionate, like making the eyes the correct size, the nose, the ears, etc. My inspiration for this artwork was an an artist named Anais Gonzalez, who does a lot of pencil sketches of a lot of famous singers and other people as well. Her artwork inspired me because I like how she gives a semi-realistic touch to her drawing and that is something I want to keep improving on. In my art piece I also added a moon and stars. I like to incorporate this into most of my art pieces because they are very powerful and important symbols to me. Overall in my artwork I’m very proud of the shading because it gives it a more realistic feel. Even though I had my struggles, I’m proud of my finished product and how I incorporated a little of me into this piece. I would like to continue improving on the realism of my artwork and improve on the variety of faces. That is something I will continue to do and work on.

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Maria D. O., 10th grade, “Untitled”. I made this photo because I was thinking about different ways to represent beauty. I wanted the main focus to be on myself with my facial expression and what I was doing. I chose the angle from where it is taken because it adds a different feeling to the photograph.

Natalie R. I., 12th grade, “Self Portrait with Mr. Mittens and Mavis”. I’ve never actually drawn myself FULL body, So that’s why I added my cats Mister MIttens and Mavis! So it wouldn’t just be me by myself. My mom had shown me a picture she had taken of my brother on a pile of snow after the huge snowfall and I realized with the pose I had in mind THAT would work. And so that’s what I drew adding some trees so the background wouldn’t be blank.

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Tiffany D., 10th grade, “Digital Photograph”. I matched the background curtain to the shirt so there would be one main color in the portrait, using natural lighting and making sure she was in the center to fill up the frame.

Noel Community Arts School | Hayley Krichels

Maxwell B., 10th grade, “The Art of Self”. One thing I think I want to highlight in my identity sculpture is the symmetry. I really try to live a balanced life and always try everything. I cannot stand people who don’t step outside of their comfort zone because they are afraid of failure and scrutiny. I live to be scrutinized in a way… I would much prefer to be told how to correct something than be told it’s good enough. I leaned the skis inwards to always draw the attention back to the main quadrant of the sculpture. I think this sculpture caused me to reflect a lot about what other see me as, because I know who I am to myself but everyone I know knows a different version of me and I just find it interesting that it’s impossible to try to express your image to multiple people because they will all interpret it differently from their own experiences. Overall I am very happy with how it turned out. I went in without a plan and it took some trial and error before I had a design I was happy with.

Charlie R. P., 11th grade, “The Folds of Femininity”. To communicate my culture in my headpiece, I decided to create a wide-brim hat that mirrors those you might see atop the head of a woman watching the derby, enjoying a freshly poured glass of champagne, or adding the finishing touches to their wedding day makeup. I think these oversized, extravagant hats are a perfect example of the often unattainable norms set out for women in America.

Additionally, these hats are typically very expensive, so they are reserved for the more affluent facets of society.

To show this inequity, I chose to include a price tag hanging off of the side of the hat. In doing so, I wanted to represent the materialism and obsession with luxury that are so often associated with femininity. I also used various flowers to represent my culture. There are roses, lilies, and tulips arranged along the brim of the hat. These flowers symbolize society’s expectation that women are sweet, delicate, and pretty. Lastly, I chose to include a bright red spider to offset these norms. As someone who grew up playing outside with insects and animals and sappy trees, I am very familiar with the idea that this affinity for the outdoors is only attractive when it is in reference to men. Thus, I made the spider out of bright red paper so that it would disrupt the white righteousness that is expected of women in our society.

North | Melissa Calvert

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Jack K., 11th grade, “Untitled”. My art piece is a carved squirrel made out of Ivory soap. I made my work by using knives and paper clips to carve the soap and make a squirrel. It is made from one bar of Ivory soap.

I used a lot of smaller cuts on the body of the squirrel to make it look smooth and I used bigger deeper cuts on the tail to give it texture to make it a little more realistic. I was inspired by seeing a squirrel on the roof of North High School after the introduction of the unit was done for this project, and I just decided to make a squirrel.

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Preston S., 10th grade, “Untitled”. My work is an abstract non-representational free-form sculpture. It has many holes carved into it and looking at it from the bottom up it becomes more complex with smaller details towards the top.

Ruby E., 11th grade, “Untitled”. My cultural headpiece represents my age and gender. These are important to me culturally because being a 16 year old girl in 2020 comes with a whole list of rules to follow. Pre-teen is when most young girls first start to feel unsafe doing simple things, such as walking alone, and I feel 15/16 is when that really solidifies. I am very disappointed in how society teaches girls to dress modestly and keep constant vigilance when they really should be teaching men to respect women. I think the rules and expectations of what a young woman should be in society are limiting and create a huge double standard, and that’s what I wanted to show in my piece. To represent my age and gender I chose to create roses. The roses represent the expectations put on young women to be pure, perfect, and polite. I chose to use 16 roses because I am 16. They also represent my age because some of the flowers are in full bloom and a few are still just buds. This reflects my age because I’m at a point in life where I’m not a child anymore but I’m also not a full grown adult. I chose to use thorns to represent how dangerous it is to just simply be female nowadays. It represents all of the things women have to do and silly rules we have to remember just to feel safe walking to our cars alone at night. I also feel it provides a contrast to the delicacy of the roses. To me it symbolizes how society expects women to be so delicate yet because of society young girls are taught to always be on defense.

North | Melissa Calvert

Sophia G., 11th grade, “Sophi’s Identity Melting Pot”.

Many types of culture inspired different aspects of my headpiece. The culture of Colorado is important to me because it is the state that I call my home. I was born and raised in Colorful Colorado and the beautiful landscape provides space for all of the outdoor activities that I love to do. The columbine flower crown is a reference to the state flower which can be seen growing naturally with its gorgeous purple color. Catholicism was a big part of my early childhood. This is important to me because it symbolizes my family history and beliefs. However it is not a huge part of me as an individual, so I only decided to include the small thorns on the flower crown so it could be interpreted in different ways. These thorns are a reference to the crown of thorns Jesus wore when he was crucified. The delicate columbine flowers contrasted with the harsh thorns to create this crown. I included “Trippy Redd Horns,” a rapper who is very popular today. His music continues to make me happy. I attribute a lot of my emotional progress to music, specifically Trippy’s music over the past couple years. Additionally I included aspects of popular culture such as the brand Adidas which represents me as an athlete. And on the other two gems are the sign for females and a heart. This represents my love for the female community as I will always be proud of who I am biologically and what I can do as a female in the modern world. The final aspect of my headpiece I want to talk about is the dollar bills covering the majority of my head. In today’s society there is a lot of pressure to make money. Too much value is put into a piece of paper, but I am also victim to this. These dollar bills really are just paper. They hold absolutely no value. Everything in society has to do with money. I expressed this personal/social issue because I wish we lived in a world where people valued personal relationships and happiness over money. I used unity to show that despite my culture being a combination of very different things, they all create something beautiful.

Evelyn P., 11th grade, “IDENTIFICATION”.

All of these objects represent different parts of my identity. Through the process of this unit I have learned that my identity can be represented by certain objects and shared with other people, but I am really the only person that knows my true identity.

I have also learned about different sculptural techniques like a relief sculpture and an in-the-round sculpture. There are also additive and subtractive sculptures. I have also learned that there are different types of balance within a sculpture like symmetrical, asymmetrical and radial. All of these new learnings will help me when I am making sculptures in the future and I will be able to use these strategies to my advantage.

North | Melissa Calvert

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Simon M., 11th grade, “Untitled”. My artwork is a llama, and looks like a simplistic llama. The long neck and bulbous figure are the most obvious along with the smooth texture. I created my artwork by making an outline of the different views of the llama. Then I transferred the outline onto the soap and carved away to achieve the desired shape. Then I added additional details to make the llama look more like a llama. To do the carving I used a knife, pick, and a paperclip. I was inspired by the soapstone carvings of llama that I saw online. My goal for this artwork was to work on subtractive techniques and learn how to sculpt subtractively. I feel my strength in this piece was the shape and general form because I liked how the shape turned out. However I felt my weakness was details because my llama did not have very many. I liked my artwork overall. I learned to sculpt subtractively which is something that I had never done before.

Ryan S., 10th grade, “Untitled”. The objectives for the unit was to create a cast of a body part or common object using multiple layers of packing tape and install in a site specific place creating juxtaposition. I created a cast of a teapot because it is something that is in use regularly in my home and because I thought it was an interesting form that had enough detail to be identifiable. I selected to showcase my work in its natural environment, but the juxtaposition is created when it is about to be placed on the gas burner. By just changing the material to a plastic translucent form it created unnatural opposing elements that I hope causes the viewer to ask questions or take a second look.

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Reality C., 9th grade, “Envision Creation”. I created my art work with a knife, paper clip, pencil, and my fingers to carve the different designs. The goal for my sculpture was to carve without having a specific idea to go off of. I pushed myself to take risks because when I was using the materials some pieces fell off, so I had to improvise and make the best out of it. One of my strengths was not giving up because I was getting frustrated with certain parts of my work.

North | Melissa Calvert

Isabella R., 9th grade, “Taking On The Car”. The story in my photos is my toys slowly making it out of the house to the car for school, they start inside arguing then make it outside but get stuck in the snow, and lastly one is looking for the other to get in the car. In my pictures I had to get really close to the toy and to the ground. This is a forced perspective because I was close to the object. What worked well is the pictures were cool, I struggled with taking pictures with crops that I liked.

Erick P. N., 12th grade, “Skateboard Design”. The objective was to create a skateboard design based on a theme we chose, using images we drew, images from the internet, tools, and techniques.The theme I chose for this assignment was gaming. I decided to focus on a specific game known as Final Fantasy 7. I first thought about all the different iconic characters, symbols, icons, logos, and character dynamics of the game. That’s how I settled on using the two characters that I did, being Cloud and Sephiroth. I had originally thought about including another character (Aerith) but I scrapped the idea as I thought it would make the design too cluttered. Next I thought about how I could use the characters placement and poses to show the dynamic between the two, which was how I ended up putting cloud a bit bigger at the front and sepiroth facing away from him while being back to back.

The logo at the top of the board is there because in the game, Sephiroth’s objective is to summon a meteor and throw it at the planet. I used a drop shadow layer style on cloud because i wanted to add a bit more seperation from Sephiroth, as I thought that they looked sort of plastered together with no real space between them. I named the layers based off what layer styles and filters I used on them so I wouldn’t get confused as to why something looked the way it did. I used a blur and dissolve blending mode and adjustment to get Sephiroth to fade from the bottom to sort of show that he is this illusive threatening figure. The background I went with a simple solid black background with a spotlight type effect. In the game, the title screen has Cloud’s sword in a similar backdrop and so I wanted to emulate that. Sephiroths black feather’s are an iconic part of the character, and whenever he appears, there is usually a few feathers dropped, so I decided to use that as the repetitive element, and scatter them around Cloud, as a common theme between the two is that they can never escape each other.

North | Michelle Dame

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Carlos M., 12th grade, “Sandlot”. The Most Successful part of the project was how much detail I put into Wendy Peffercorn and made it look like a real picture. I made it the most successful because of how much time I put into it. I didn’t plan on it, I should’ve but I didn’t and I did great. The project was just such a cool project that I was able to think about it and it stayed in my head the whole time to where I did not have to write it down.

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Mia N., 10th grade, “Nightmare before Christmas”. I think my most successful part of my project was getting zero to look like zero. I made it the most successful part by sketching and drawing zero multiple times so I would get used to drawing him and so I could get him to look like the movie, but also a little stylized. I used planning to give myself three days to complete it. One for the main potions so zero and the pumpkin. Another for the background. And the last day for final touches.

Brielle P., 10th grade, “Spiderman in Control”. Well first off you see Spiderman and my little brother in some kind of talk, a disagreement. I would say my first two photos are more trying to be forced perspective. I would say the depth of field is being more up close and a bit of depth of field with the blurriness.

To take pictures for creating the story was kind of confusing for me at times because I didn’t know how to really get a story across but I guess it all worked out. I learned taking pictures with forced perspective is a lot harder than I had envisioned so that is something I did struggle with while working on this project but I’m not mad at my results. Something that did work well I feel like was the editing which is more of my strength, I like editing to bring out colors and making the photo pop out more all together.

North | Michelle Dame

Ashley M., 10th grade, “Coral Reef”. The objective of the project was to design a skateboard with a theme that interested us. When doing this project making sure to use various techniques including blending modes, filters, adjustments and more to fill the space and create a better end product. For my theme I was deciding between a winter theme and an ocean theme, and I decided on the ocean theme. Within that theme I knew I wanted it to be a deep tropical ocean so that I could do a colorful coral reef, various tropical fish, and a sea turtle. To create my skateboard I first started with the gradient background for the water. Next, I added sun beams on top of the gradient to make it look more like an ocean. I started on the coral reef next, specifically with drawing all the rocks and adding texture. I then did the rest of my coral reef with all of the different types of coral and plants, which took a while because I wanted it to be detailed. I drew the clownfish, blue tangs, and moorish idol fish next, multiplied, and staggered them throughout the whole page. Lastly, I drew the sea turtle and then placed it in one of the bigger empty spaces. In this project we needed to add some different required elements. For the layer style requirement I did a gradient layer for my ocean water background. For the filter requirement I used a sunbeam filter in photoshop. The blending mode requirement was harder for me to use, but I ended up using a darker color blending mode to darken the coral reef rock base. The next requirement was using curves and adjustments, and I used curves to enhance the shadows, highlights, and colors in my drawing. Next was a background that filled the whole space, which I did. Lastly, a repetitive element which was met with all of my different fish and schools of fish throughout my drawing.The point of this project was to design and draw a skateboard while meeting the requirements with a theme of our choice. Something I did well was the initial planning of my project and having a clear objective/end result. When I decided on the ocean theme, I had a set image/visual of what I wanted my end result to look like. This helped me know what I wanted my end result to look like and not get stuck on my project. I think my theme was a difficult choice, but not a bad one. It was very tedious and time consuming in order for me to get close to my wanted end result. I think my board worked out, but I am definitely not 100% happy with it. The roadblocks were that I definitely struggled with getting my project done, it was very long and time consuming for me. If I could change my skateboard, I would probably try to make it a little less chaotic and add more layers to the front coral reef/rock layer. If I could do the whole project over again, I would change how I spaced the project out/my time management with the whole project.

North | Michelle Dame

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Zoe K., 11th grade, “Swing Set”. This piece is a representation of my struggle with depression and how I would daydream in order to escape. Sometimes when I couldn’t sit in my house any longer I would walk to the park to sit on the swings alone and think.

Heather K., 11th grade, “Up”. I was practicing using acrylic paint along with drawing figures at different angles. I wanted to use the color of the surface for shadows on the figure to emphasize the contrast.

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Greta S., 11th grade, “Sunday Mornings”. The pandemic means waking up in the same bed every morning, and I wanted to illustrate that feeling of comfort and peace that comes with the familiarity.

North | Kari Searls

Ella L., 10th grade, “Untitled”. In the art piece I have created, I use the materials of watercolor, colored pencil, pen, and markers. In my art piece, I wanted to convey a nonrealistic landscape that is dream-like. The colors I chose were to create 3D pop and feel. It is supposed to be a cliff with a tree in an enclosed box with a hole in the wall to outer space. To me, the landscape in the box was the dream but the hole in the wall was the hole back to reality. I added a woman as a tree to add a living thing to my work. I drew an apple hanging from the tree to portray the saying, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree but a more physical meaning.

Chris C., 11th grade, “Untitled”. When you think of “Surrealism” you probably think of a crazy amalgamation of dreams and god knows what. Though it just looks like a normal scene...It’s hard to have something to represent the unreal side of yourself when you yourself seem so surreal. What I find to be unreal... is an unsettling somewhat normal scene. Many thoughts and ideas were made to get to the final piece, everything mad to be an opposite of the Original surrealism with some included elements. First it’s the normal looking forest with a purple sky and some amazing looking trees. All made with one of my favorite media, oil pastel. A river that runs through the forest and then is drained through the ground. The final thing I added was a big dynasty beetle that is a color combination I have never seen, Blue and green. There was more I was hoping to include but I thought it would cloud up the paper, I kept it clear, simple, and to the point.

Enola L. G., 11th grade, “Bathtub”. This piece depicts a woman laying in a bathtub. As she lays here, a liquid (representing her problems) go down the drain with the water. This liquid goes into a sort of black hole. The drawing is a representation of how when I struggle, I like to use showering as a way to cope and to rinse off my problems. When you shower it feels like a mental reset. I used colored pencil and acrylic paint to create this project.

North | Kari Searls

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Katie M., 9th grade,”Long Pig”. For this piece, my goal was to create a surreal environment with a lot of colors. I also wanted to use multiple materials, so I used watercolor, pencil, and oil pastel. This piece isn’t made to make sense, but it can be interpreted in whatever way the viewer thinks.

Alexis M., 11th grade, “Untitled”. In my art, I capture a mind that works differently from other people and thinks when you look at it it’s a bad sign of disrespect.

People looking at you because you are your authentic self Eyes looking at me because I feel watched every time I go out my front door sometimes it’s a good thing people are watching and sometimes it’s a bad thing that they’re watching. This picture shows me and my room doing what I like to do: the art of makeup. Every time I wear it I feel powerful but I feel like people stare at me because they think it’s strange.

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North | Kari Searls

Marlena B., 12th grade, “Strawberry Hat”. My work draws attention to the natural world and various aspects of nature. The natural world surrounds us, and in a society where we are often disconnected from this aspect of our identity due to work, education and the continuous advancement and spread of technology, it is important to draw attention to the beautiful and unique aspects of our planet, and our unavoidable connectedness with it. While this is only one piece out of my exhibition, each work harbors some sort of connection to the natural world, and emphasizes these aspects by amplifying them using scale.

The piece looks rather gargantuan alongside the seemingly tiny strawberries, bees or fairies. However, when displayed on a mannequin, it becomes apparent that the piece is not so large at all, but rather smaller and complex, made up of tight half-double crochet stitches. The portrayal of an everyday object, as simple as a piece of clothing, as a natural fruit allows the viewer to create connections between their everyday lives and the environment outdoors. All of my art tends to have a very whimsical and child-like feel, as portrayed through the bring colors, cartoon-like style and mythical beings. This cultivates a sort of nostalgia with the audience, and may allow the art and the idea of appreciation of nature to resonate further.

Anya C., 12th grade, “The World Below Us”. This piece was generated to visually explore how we as humans often ignore the issues we cannot see. It is estimated that every single day each individual American produces about 4.4 lbs of trash. The main problem with this is we never get to see where that trash goes, we don’t see the large piles of waste building up, we don’t see the millions of tons of trash dropped into the ocean each year. This is not an excuse, it is a wake-up call.

Northfield | Dustin Harper

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“OJ P., 12th grade, “”Mamu & Papa””. The pieces invite the audience to look closely at the features of each model.

Papa is wearing traditional Napolese mens Dhaka topi and Mamu has her Sari with a beaded necklace and bindi. The lack of color dulls the appearance of the jewelry and clothing, allowing for more emphasis on the facial expressions.

The portrait features were intentionally left blank and the space behind is black in order to show highlights and draw the viewer’s attention around both works.

Megan S., 12th grade, “Dreamland”. This piece is about the chaotic and random world we live in. We are all individually unique and seemingly chaotic but our differences are not that strange in a world where everything is strange. My piece also addresses issues of mental health with the black mushroom piercing the woman’s head representing mental illness and imagery of mushrooms representing how we grow in the darkness. Mental health is a part of our unique identities and I wanted to address how it can play a role in who we are.

Marshall B., 11th grade, “Wave” 72

Northfield | Dustin Harper

Gabriella M., 11th grade, “You’re on Your Way, Buddy”. I captured photographs of different generations within my family.

It’s powerful to see how time not only shapes our appearance but also contributes to our word choice. I had deep conversations with each individual and we worked together to establish a quote they wanted to represent themself. This could be a word of advice, words to live by, or just a quote that they say often that conveys their personality. Using their personal quotes I asked for them to write it on a slip of paper. I then proceeded to mimic their handwriting in the background.

Isaac K., 10th grade, “Hyper-realism Texture Study”. This shoe has more of a symbolic meaning to me than a personal one. I have always considered the posture and shoes of a person to be indicators of their personality. I want to include distinctive features in the shoes and pants so that people can recognize that I’m the one in the image.

Northfield | Dustin Harper

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“Alba M. H., 10th grade, “”Broken””.

In a broken family love is shattered ​In a divided world love is lost ​But how is love broken?

If it was never whole in the first place”

Autumn N., 10th grade, “Late Night”. It was a late night, it was cold.

Marin B., 9th grade, “Empty”. I used Photoshop to create a hollow person.

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Northfield | Alexandra Mamatas

Maia T., 11th grade, “Untitled”. I photographed this person in my photos because we are very close so I felt comfortable telling her exactly how I wanted her to pose and she has cool hair that was fun to photograph. I drew the most inspiration from Dorothea Lange’s photo “Migratory Cotton Picker” and it’s use of angles, posing, and light and shadow. I enjoyed capturing these photographs because I got to see my vision come to life through finding the perfect location, pose, angle, and edits.

Riley M., 10th grade, “Tempted”. This is what discovery means to me.

Eden L., 9th grade, “Something”. Are you scared?

Riley M., 10th grade, “Trapped”. One of my fears and phobias is being trapped, gasping for air.

Northfield | Alexandra Mamatas

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Elaina L., 10th grade, “Freedom”. I think that a big part of freedom is being free to express yourself, and I associate feelings of freedom with times of utmost joy. So, in this artwork I attempted to capture the joy felt when feeling free. I think music has a strong association with freedom, as it is a major way of expressing yourself and gaining freedom from the world. In this project, I challenged myself my trying to capture movement successfully. Overall, these images are connected with things like the cloudy blue background and person as the subject, which I think adds a layer of unity and peace.

Macy V., 11th grade, “The Man In My Room”. This is a deep feeling of mine when I worry about what was that noise, who could it be, and what will they do to me?

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Claire M., 10th grade, “Weightless”. For this photo, I wanted to capture a piece of fantasy and breathlessness. The girl is at rest, in a moment of calm, as the snow gently falls, and she basks in the light. I used street lighting to cast a shadow on the ground, and highlight her features, bringing contrast and depth into the photo. I was able to work with new techniques to bring attention to certain colors, and to levitate her. In the end, she appears to be frozen in time, and at peace, hovering in a blissful moment between reality and a dream Northfield | Alexandra Mamatas

Elise W., 9th grade, “Gouache Series No. 5”. For this artwork, I wanted to try something new with my painting style. Instead of going for ultra-realism, I decided to paint what was natural for me. I chose to incorporate colors that are not normally seen within a portrait painting. By layering these brighter colors and adding movement with the paint strokes, I was able to create an art piece I was proud of. Originally, this portrait was a favor for a friend of mine but I ended up investing more time and effort in it than I thought I would. Within the process of painting this artwork, I struggled to find joy in painting this. However, as I continued to work through my process of adding value and movement to the artwork, I ended up not hating it.

Although this was one of the more difficult pieces I have painted, I believe that it is one of my most interesting artworks in the series.

Hayden B., 11th grade, “Lost”. My piece, Lost, is about well being lost. Whether it’s in emotion, being lost physically, or mentally. I used markers, colored pencils, watercolors, magazine cutouts, acrylic paint, and pens. I was somewhat inspired by the song Hymn for the Missing by Red, when I made it I wanted to show how being lost and lonely can be its own type of beautiful, a childhood friend of mine had just passed less than a month earlier and it hurt and I felt so alone and lost and I wanted to translate that into something.

Mia P., 9th grade, “Kraken”. The purpose of this piece was a bit comical. Since octopi have so many arms, it seems like this fact resonates with me. I juggle a lot of stuff around with school and social life. In literature, an octopus symbolizes flexibility, creativity, intelligence, expansion and unpredictability. The title Kraken was to also show the chaotic side of trying to balance everything out. I was really satisfied with the way this piece came out. I tried experimenting a lot and in the end produced something I’m very proud of.

Northfield | Joshua Sucherman

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Nataly R. G., 9th grade, “Disperse”. To disperse means to explore an open space, sometimes whether you wish to or not. My piece is called Disperse because the word “disperse” gave me inspiration to match the artwork to its definition. Butterflies are an important part of my piece as they randomly impacted my inspiration because I have some up around my room as decor as they represent freedom and innocence to me. I wanted this freedom to be apparent in my piece except with a darker concept which involves the butterflies losing their freedom when they are struck by the dark uncontrolled abstract and greedy lines. This piece is meant to be pleasing to the eye through its monotone appearance although there is so much silent destruction going on as the butterflies are caused to break apart and disperse. Essentially I created this peace to show how unexpected greed can strip something from its innocence and freedom unexpectedly and repeatedly.

Luna C., 9th grade, “What Life Has Become”. This art piece inspired me a lot because I feel like with everything that’s gone on this year I haven’t fully been able to express myself to the point that I’ve wanted, and this piece really allowed me to do so, I believe. This year has been filled with so many challenges especially for me since I have not been in school once this whole year.

This art piece allowed me to show how I felt being at home and like my hands were my main source of everything and that I didn’t get to quite speak with my heart and head, it was all in my hands since I hadn’t had that feeling of being in person and interacting with people.

Although this year has been very weird for me and very different than any other school year i’ve had, I still tried and enjoy my first year of high school to the best of my ability and have a fun time while doing that as well. I hope you all enjoy my art piece as much as I do.

Audrey L., 11th grade, “Watercolor Fish’. This piece was created with watercolor, oil pastel, and black ink. The watercolor technique of wet on wet that I utilized allowed me to create a watery effect, and inspired me to draw fish. Using complementary colors made the fish stand out against the background and become the focal point of the piece. This artwork represents contrast which is a formal quality I have shown in my entire body of work this year.

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Anna W., 11th grade, “Daydreaming”. My piece consists of many elements which illustrate a girl on an abstract background with tears in the space to reveal other images. Additionally, the words “to love you with all my stars and dreams” are a main factor of the composition.

I created this piece as a collage, combining materials such as paper cutouts, ink, markers, and pens. I was inspired to make this piece by the idea of hope. At the beginning of the year in my art class we were discussing our hopes for 2021. From this came the main emotion I was attempting to convey with my work: hope, whimsy, fulfillment, opportunity, or anything else one may want to call it, as this feeling is different for everyone. I mainly wanted people to look at my art and find themselves feeling comforted by the feelings it brings forth, knowing that other people feel them too.

Izzy C., 11th grade, “Self Love”. My name is Izzy. My piece is a painting of a girl comforting herself. I used acrylic paints on canvas. At the time that I painted this piece, I was going through a growing period with myself. I had realized that the mental space I was in was unhealthy, and I had to take time for myself instead of dedicating all of my time to others at the expense of me. I like putting a face to issues because it makes every concept a little more understandable which is why I chose to do a portrait. There will always be something that is abstract to anything related to mental health which is why I kept elements of design and abstraction in the painting. The pink radiating waves represent love for oneself. The girl in this piece is not me, it is someone who I wish I was at the time that I painted it. Compared to then, I have become the girl that I painted and have embraced myself and who I am. I love to work with acrylics, they are my favorite medium, but trying to blend colors together when they dry so fast is difficult. Overall, I believe that my piece has achieved what I believed it to.

Northfield | Joshua Sucherman

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Talia C., 11th grade, “Untitled”. This piece grapples with the dismantling of western gender concepts through contracting masculinity and femininity, through bone structure and internal organs. The recycled materials are used to connect the human form to the natural environment and are a contamination on human waste and pollution.

Sophia K., 11th grade, “Loosing my Marbles”. I want this piece to serve as a reminder to take a breath and to not overthink when I am feeling stressed or anxious. Over the past couple of years I have struggled with anxiety, and I want other people to be able to connect with my piece and know that if they are experiencing anxiety or stress that they are not alone and that it is possible to overcome it. Overall, I am happy with my piece because I think it has a good balance of realistic aspects that represent me as a person, as well as some surreal aspects that are good metaphors for my emotions.

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Sophia K., 11th grade, “Metaphor for 2020/2021”. For my piece I did the metaphor eyes glued to the screen to represent how our entire school experience this year has been solely on the computer. Being home all day with little social interaction can feel very isolating, and it can also be very tiring and monotonous looking at the computer all day long so I wanted to make this sculpture to really capture those emotions and represent how 2020 as a whole has been tiring, monotonous, and challenging. I made the sculpture of my head and the eyes glued onto the screen out of clay and then I painted on the details. I made my body out of aluminum foil and my clothes and hair out of felt. Overall, I am pretty happy with how my sculpture came out because I think the details on my face look pretty similar to my own which is something I really focused on when creating this piece.

South | Kimberly Beckeman

Julie R., 10th grade, “Surrealist Self-Portrait”. This project was to show you and who you are but I don’t really know myself.

I’m still figuring everything about who I really am as a person, I feel like I stand out, like I have bright colored skin and that I don’t really fit in. I want people to see this version of me and understand that this sculpture that seems to come straight from a dream represents all this uncertainty, doubt, and questions I have about my own self.

Jessica A. G., 11th grade, “Self Portrait”. The dream in my art is to visualize how I perceive the world around me.With that, my self-portrait expresses the thought of losing passion, since the world around me is about structure and rules, making me feel this way. Something you should know about my work is the landscape painting on its chest. The blossom trees remind me of my childhood tree in my front yard, the one I always climb up on, and the mountain to represent the mountains here in Colorado.

Ryder C., 10th grade, “Surrealist Self Portrait”. I thought it would be fun and interesting to work with food as it seemed like quite the original idea, but it turned out to be an original idea for a reason. It is difficult to get the project to be detailed exactly as you like with food. However, on a more positive note about the project, I did like how I got to use foods, I loved making the project.

South | Kimberly Beckeman

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Emma S., 11th grade, “Untitled”. It was the 8th century, she was a knight. The Ogre war had been going on for 25 years. To most in the kingdom it felt like it would never end. An endless war between the strongest beasts known to man and a kingdom who can barely hold its own. They were a fruitful and glorious kingdom, once upon a time.

After the ogres attacked and most young adults left for war there were few strong enough to tend and maintain the fields and all the doctors left to tend to the knights thus most of the older villagers died of sickness and disease. If help didn’t come soon the kingdom would fall.

There was, however a neighboring kingdom called Goonden, with glorious riches and a rather large Army. Perhaps big enough to end the war. So the King knew what to do; he married off his eldest daughter to Goonden’s only son.

It was a small ceremony, there was a plethora of flowers and the whole Kingdom smelled of lilac. Nobody cared about the marriage nearly as much as the idea that their loved ones could come back from war. The battle was brutal. Many were already dead. The ogres have very bad eyesight but amazing smell. The soldiers covered themselves in mud and flowers to mask their scent. Their best chance was to shoot arrows at them. Unfortunately it seemed the Ogres have basically won. The men were only hidden and with limited arrows and many soldiers badly hurt they had no plan, until a wave of arrows came from behind the trenches. Hundreds, no thousands of arrows, thousands of soldiers. Quiet but swift as though they were guardian angels. The Goonden soldiers had come. No one knew they were coming there was no way to get the news to them of the marriage or the alliance. It was as though the gods were gracing them. The soldiers were beautiful, they were born and bred to be heroes. Not a single sword nor horse. Almost magical in their armor. They picked off the ogres until the score was even. The leader of the army was the princess. She was married off for her country but even more she would fight for it. Bow in hand she raised an arrow up to her cheekbone and shot hitting one of the biggest ogres directly in the head. They fought for days but were finally winning. Ogres might not be the smartest creatures but even they knew when to retreat. Slowly leaving with nothing but arrows in their back, the battle field absolutely silent. You could hear a pin drop. Finally after what felt like an eternity of war the princess raised her bow high in the sky in glory. They all yelled and screamed in joy. They would see their families and go home. The kingdom was safe. They began to march back. As they grew closer the kingdom was desolate. Silent but the wind. The closer they got they began to realize the ogres did not retreat but instead change their target. Instead of picking soldiers they took the whole kingdom. Repulsive, the bodies of children and elderly people were strung on buildings. All the soldiers loved one, all they fought for, was torn to bits. The kingdom itself was found untouched, not even a blade of grass ripped out of the ground. That didn’t change that it was now a kingdom of mangled corpses. They didn’t do anything that moment of glory was completely erased. They all just went in their homes. Broken they were not strong enough to cry anymore. The princess however, once belonging to the great kingdom, now belonging to the throne of Goonden ran to the palace. She was not ready to give into grief. She opened the doors big and metal and she doubted the ogres could have gotten in. But there it was, the thing she feared most. The one person she was fighting for. Her little sister, dead. A plague of darkness fell over the kingdom. They suffered so long only to come home to nothing.

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South | Kimberly Beckeman

Mythili V., 10th grade, “Self Portrait”. This project was a lot of fun because I was able to draw myself in a different style and add cool things to the portrait. I liked the fact that I was able to draw something 2D, and make it into something 3D. Even though I could have made a sculpture, I wanted to try and paint something and add 3D aspects to it, so that it could look really cool and have a bit more complexity.

Parker R., 12th grade, “Self Portrait”. I’ve never done any kind of self-portrait before, so it was fun exploring how to portray myself. I also got to use different materials in different ways, and was able to explore more creative ways to represent parts of myself. Overall, I am happy with how it turned out, and how I did it.

South | Kimberly Beckeman

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Nathalie A., 10th grade, “Together, Apart”. For this photo I was following a prompt in my art class: 2021 and 2020. For this project we were supposed to take pictures of what represented 2021 and 2020. My thought process as far as the composition was that the hands were deliberately placed close to each other, yet not touching, representing my views on how I thought the year 2021 would be. Since things were starting to look more positive (i.e. vaccinations approaching approval at the time of taking this photo), the hands nearly touching represent the optimism I saw for the year in terms of people being able to see their families again, restrictions clearing up, etc. But at the same time, the hands aren’t touching, which signifies that the pandemic is still an ongoing issue, even though things are getting better, the pandemic is still keeping us away from the everyday life we were all used to. I created this image by finding a part of my room that had good lighting. I wanted the shadows to be present, but also the light to reflect off the rings and give more interest to the image overall. Taking the photo was slightly difficult as I was using my iPhone, but I balanced it on a nearby table and positioned my hands in the frame following where I wanted them to appear in the photo. After a few tries using the timer on my phone’s camera, the positioning and lighting worked out and I was able to capture the final product. In terms of editing, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible in order to have the hands really stick out. Therefore, I converted the picture into black and white, and using a selective layer, I was able to transform the background into a plain black, these edits had the effect of drawing the viewer’s eye to the main subject of the photo (the hands) and simplifying the image, which in a way amplified the message being conveyed.

Sentiyah M., 10th grade, “Zombie Hand”. My piece is a cartoon looking zombie hand coming out of a green moss covered book. I began with a book and I carved out the center, I bought the hand from hobby lobby and I covered it in paper to give it a little bit more texture and to make it easier to paint on, then I painted the hand and book and after the paint dried I glued fake moss on the top of the book. I was inspired by some altered books online and a zombie movie I watched the night before.

I chose to do this because I wanted my piece to be 3D and I wanted to include some kind of zombie element.

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South | Sarah Haney

Percy C., 11th grade, “Seeking Guidance”. For this picture I used two LEGO figures, and I took the picture with my phone camera. I try and tell a story with most of my pictures, all of them are up for interpretation, but for this one I wanted it to be like an adventurer seeking advice. Wolves are usually seen as sort of dangerous but to me this one seems like it would be more wise. My main inspiration for this was an animated short-film called The Secret of Kells, I don’t remember exactly what it’s about because I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, but one part I do remember is that there was council of wolves that a traveler would go and consult for directions or protection.

Percy C., 11th grade, “Sharp Lessons”. For this picture I built up a small dojo-esc room with a hole in the roof for my camera to sit on, and I shined a lamp in through the doorway. I practice HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) and a big part of it is duelling and learning to use swords. It’s a big passion of mine, and since I’m not great at taking pictures of people, I decided to use LEGO figures which I could pose and change around as much as I wanted until I found the best position.

Taylor L., 12th grade, “Untitled”. This was created for our “silverware” assignment.

South | Sarah Haney

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Ella H., 10th grade, “Untitled”. I made an altered book of people surfing. To make this I used watercolor and glue for the ocean, and wire and cardboard for the people. I started making the altered book by glueing the pages together, I wet some of the pages and folded them so that they would make the shape of a wave. I cut out portions of the book to make a multi- dimensional shoreline. One the ocean was done I started on the little wire people and their surfboards. I made this piece of art to represent my love of the ocean. This piece of art shows the viewers some of the beauty of the ocean, and how it can be really fun.

Annalia G., 9th grade, “Masquerade in Black and White”. I found my inspiration for this photo while watching an old movie in black and white. In the movie, there was a masquerade ball, and as I watched I couldn’t help but notice the interest brought with combination of the intricate masks and the simplicity of black and white. So I decided to orchestrate this image with the use of artificial light to accentuate the contrasts in the photo. Finally, the all black background really makes the subject stand out, which is why I chose it.

Ashlyn E., 9th grade, “Untitled”. The picture I chose was a portrait photo that I took of my sister. We were in the mountains walking around and I saw a fallen tree branch. I thought that it looked cool and the lighting was really nice so I told my sister what to do, figured out a good angle, and took the picture. I edited the picture a little bit for vibrance and color along with light.

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South | Sarah Haney

Masara S., 9th grade, “Red”. This was the photo I submitted for a monochromatic themed project. As you can see I tried to use a singular color throughout the entirety of this photo. As you would expect, it took a lot of trial and error to get the final product. I walked all over my house trying to find the right color to use for this photo. I then decided that I wanted to use watercolor paint to add a bit of originality to my photo, that way I could also use different shades of color. I had a feeling that many people would use food, so I wanted my photo to be a bit different. I went to pick up my paint brush and noticed the color, red. That’s when I decided the right color for this project. I was going to use the color red for my photo. I then set out for a new quest, to look for anything red to use for this project. Of course there were a few requirements. First of all it needed to be somewhat appealing to look at. It also needed to have multiple shades of red, so I couldn’t use anything with one solid shade of red. I needed shadows, highlights, and many different shades. Which is what led to me using pomegranate seeds as my main focus for this photo. The main idea I had for this photo was to capture all the different shades of red. Not only of the pomegranate seeds, but the watercolor as well. I wanted to show a full representation of this color’s beauty. And I think I did a pretty good job with that aspect of this project. I was able to keep this photo monochromatic while also being able to keep it original and interesting. It overall turned out to be a very aesthetically pleasing photo, and I’m very proud of the outcome.

Christian G., 11th grade, “Untitled”. My artwork has a colorful expression of friendship, depicting two “brothers” sitting isolated before an array of night neon lights—piercing through the dark. Elements most apparent is the celebration of color, and the closeness of friends; evident by the two figure sitting side by side. My artwork was created through the medium of photography. It was a candid photo of two individuals sitting side by side, taking in a beautiful light display.The big idea of my artwork, or what inspired me, was friendship. Bonds are a strange social phenomenon humans are driven to form. They are nuanced and essential to our well being.

One of the qualities of friendship is silence— simply being present for another. We’ve all experienced moments where we’re quiet in the presence of those held closest to our hearts. I find these moments beautiful displays of appreciation. My main goal was to capture that sense of silent appreciation the occurs frequently in friendships. To simply be present with another is a magical, relaxing thing.

My overall thoughts laud over my piece. In its creation, I learned to appreciate the phenomena of social silence further as a beautiful display of friendship. My final price is exactly how I imagine these moments to look. It will definitely influence the work to come as I’ll actively seek other moments that go unnoticed in relationship—that are truly beautiful.

South | Sarah Haney

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Eva S., 9th grade, “Student Exhibit.” Mother nature’s newest member, passes its line in hunger, uncertainty, fear, and trembling. Experience the thrill, public domain demanding verification, one of nature’s most versatile arsenals. Repent. Rebel. Rubbishy.

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Mia D., 9th grade, “Self Portrait.” My self-portrait expresses how I am and what my interests are. I wanted it to do something related to what I like and the stuff that represents who I am. I also love colorful art and wanted to try and see how I could make art that looks cool and incorporate it into glitch art. The process of creating my art started with me thinking of ideas and looking at pictures of things that I like. I chose to create my art with my Ipad and an app called ibis paint because for what I was planning it was the most efficient way to get things done and done well. Creating this piece, I discovered many different tools on the app that I use and interesting ways to improve on my art and more specifically my shading. Overall I am happy with my work because I put in a lot of effort and I feel like it shows. I am also happy with my work because it turned out better than I expected and I was able to have an idea and successfully portray it in my art for once.

South | Pablo Rivera

Lola J., 10th grade, “Reality vs.

Dreams.” The dream in my art is to express how tired I am from schoolwork and how I often sleep to escape reality. My self-portrait expresses how rough and tiring reality is, whereas dreams are something we enjoy and want to be living in. Something you should know about my work is that I modeled it off of both Mary Cassatt and Leonora Carrington’s artworks.

The process of creating my artwork started with choosing what exactly I’d be making, and what I wanted the audience to understand and see. I chose to create my art with Clip Studio Paint, because it’s a fun program and there’s a specific brush for oil paints, something that I don’t have.

Creating this piece, I learned how to draw/paint without lineart and not making lines sharp, more soft and blurred. Overall, I am happy with my work because of the colors and how I portrayed reality and dream reality. Something I would do differently is change the dream background a bit. Maybe make it more odd because dreams are often weird and the backgrounds change a lot.

Gigi A., 9th grade, “Temps lumineux” (Bright Time). quite capable, cunning, people are different, disappointment, dreadful morning South | Pablo Rivera

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Kiana S., 10th grade, “Inside the Mind of Kiana Suro.” My self-portrait expresses the mood and innermost feelings of my mind. The cage represents the restrictions and limitations that I feel form other peoples’ expectations and perspectives of me. However, despite feeling trapped, I’ve created my own peaceful environment around the cage with things I love like nature, literature, and music. I created my art by taking various pictures from magazines, old sheet music, and scraps of paper. I chose to make a collage out of these materials because my best friend and I created a collage out of magazines before she moved to Mexico, and she is one of the few people who doesn’t put an expectation or limitation on me and helped me create this peaceful environment in my mind.

Overall, I am happy with my work because I got to incorporate my favorite things into my artwork. I got to experiment with new/newer forms of media, and I learned how to use an X-Acto knife properly. Something I would do differently is spend more time looking through magazines, so I don’t run out of images to use or find better pictures later on when it is too late to incorporate them into my artwork.

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Liam W., 11th grade, “A Sea of Thoughts.” In planning my drawing I wanted to represent myself in a way to really show how I am. During the thinking process I had so many thoughts swarming around my head it created the idea of “Sea Of Thoughts”. My portrait portrays my thinking process in an exaggerated way. The first draft I started was a sketch done of my sketch book. At first I thought I could paint within my sketch book, but turned to painting on a canvas. While creating my piece I discovered a lot about my mindset and creative thinking, as well as learning many new skills for future artwork. I overall am very proud of the outcome, and the new skills of painting I have acquired.

South | Pablo Rivera

Izzy F., 9th grade, “words words words.” Sometimes words can over complicate things

Kaitlyn R., 11th grade, “Double Sided Explosive.”

“Warning” Containment breach ahead, proceed with caution, fire in her eyes, no tears for her to cry

Riona V., 9th grade, “Joy.” My self-portrait expresses my bright and happy personality. I showed this by using bright yellow colors and objects that generally represent happiness. I chose to create my art with pencil, art markers and paper because that’s how I usually create art and it matches my style. Overall I am happy with my work because it represents who I am and it turned out looking really good.

South | Pablo Rivera

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Ai H., 11th grade, “A Childhood Memory”. This is my final work for our color and contrast project. For this project, I mainly got my inspiration from one of the paintings in my house. It’s similar to what this art looks like but instead, it’s in gray/black colors. It reminds me of my childhood home in my hometown so I decided to brighten the colors up to make it look more real. Over time, I did change a few things to fit it into my style of art but overall, I’m pretty satisfied with this artwork.

Ai H., 11th grade, “Glitch”. For this project, my inspiration is a glitch. In the beginning, I planned it to be a screen error with a lot of shapes but I decided to changed things up after looking at a few self-portraits. The portrait in the artwork was something my friend drew for me a long time ago as a goodbye gift and I decided to make use of it. I had a few challenges there and then but overall, it turned out pretty good and I’m pretty happy about it.

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Zulma R. C., 11th grade, “Remember”. My artwork was inspired by a content creator by the name of Karl Jacobs. This content creator created a role play called ‘Tales of the Smp’, he time travels to different places, past or future, he learns the things and tries to fix what has happened to fix the present. The places he’s been to, he tells their story. He keeps the fact that he can time travel hidden from those he cares for and basically everyone, except one, but he keeps his secret. The colors show a part of a place he has recently gone to when he finished the story. The common flower in this place is a white tulip, it gives some sort of calmness. His sweater is dark in this different place. He’s relaxed under a tree, calmly with the White tulip, hoping he won’t lose more of his memory as time goes on and on.

South | Andrea Vander-Fertgus

Owen N., 9th grade, “All Eyes On Me”. This piece represents what I try to deal with on a relatively daily basis. The eyes represent the voices and minds of people around me who expect me to do things forced upon myself and when I fail they come critical and will not accept me. All Eyes On Me is a relatively common phrase that would mean people turning their eyes towards you, focusing on viewing and watching your actions and I struggle with people viewing me on a bar critical basis every day making me do things I do not wish to do.

Thaddeus B., 10th grade, “The Cave”. This piece of artwork is about what’s inside us and how we are affected every day by our surroundings and how we take what’s given to us. I have found that one can basically control how you feel by changing how you let things affect you such as if someone tries to stop you from doing something you enjoy you can take that in a positive light and it won’t affect you in the slightest. This image is supposed to be the representation of, if you let people in and let others control your emotions, thus the opening in the cave and you can see the storm brewing from there.

Alesia K., 9th grade, “ Bound to Stars and Memories”. I like stories, whether drawn, told, or written. That’s why I draw, why I tell, and why I write. I believe stories can be boundless, can be as infinite as the stars in the sky. I believe stories can be as eternal and fleeting as our memories. I believe stories are not only told but written. I believe stories are not only written but lived. Stories are made by hand, by mind, by experiences and by space. I wish to tell stories as much as I wish to create them and inspire them.

That’s what my art is and what it will always mean.

South | Andrea VanderFertgus

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Ariana A.F., 9th grade, “Calm and Dark Path”. In my art, my plan was to create the illusion of a path with objects found in my home. To do this, I used some faux bamboo sticks that my mom uses as decoration. I placed these sticks together and took the shot from a low and close up perspective. With the use of light and darkness I was able to create a contrast between the shades. This piece came out just as I imagined it because at the end it gave me the vibe I was looking for. To me, this has a deeper meaning and it resembles a calm and trustful path, to let go of positive and negative thoughts.

Luna A., 9th grade, “My Body was Not Meant to be a Skeleton”.

This art piece represents the community of people that are suffering from anorexia nervosa. I created this art piece also through my own experiences, and from those experiences I have been able to grow as a person. Even though I am still going through some parts of this I know that it will get better because these experiences are just bumps in my road to life.

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Avry B, 9th grade, “Trapped.” This art piece was created on November 20th, 2020. In this piece, I wanted to portray how I and many others were feeling due to the pandemic we were experiencing.

I often felt trapped in my own home, never leaving the house for several days at a time, and even when I did, I never got to see anyone. Often throughout this particularly difficult year, I felt the need to put up a front and claim that I was “fine” even though on the inside, I felt restricted and felt my liveliness draining away. On the left side of this piece, the hands represent a new threat coming to restrain me from any relief from the constant battling of new challenges. On the right, represents the front I had to put up to show that I was “fine,” despite the threats I was facing alone, or at least, felt like I was. I chose to illustrate this specific idea because it’s very relevant, it serves as a reminder that it is okay to not be okay and to show that you are not alone in times such as these.

South | Andrea Vander Fertgus

“Nyota A., 10th grade,”” Stuck”” “Seaside peace or I thought. Changes from a smile underwater. Help save somebirds flapping Shake me, I’m caught.

Waves pulling me down.

Help before I drown, save me before I give out.””

Marylin A., 9th grade, “Amore”. I created a watercolor painting of two roses crossing each other with vivid red colors on the outline and the color fading closer to the bottom of the rose. I chose to use monochrome greens for the stems of the roses in a light green color to give the impression of the flower being the most colorful. For my background I chose to go with a color that wouldn’t take away the attention from the roses and their color, the color I picked kind of gave a vintage background that went perfectly with the roses. The feeling I tried to give off from the painting was a vivid feeling with also a touch of something vintage.

South | Andrea Vander Fertgus & Summit Academy | Liv Saetta

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Emilio S, 9th grade, “Aspen Forest.” Art is what you want it to be, it only has happy mistakes!

Mariana G., 9th grade, “Power”. I created a pastel still life of hair dye and the supplies because dyeing my hair is a part of my identity. It is a way of expressing myself. Having bright hair is something that makes people turn their heads and it makes me memorable, although the stares aren’t always exactly the stares you want to get! I love it because it sends a message like “Yes I’m walking around with bright yellow hair and you can’t do anything about it!” This pastel still life is about expressing confidence and authority.

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Toni R., 10th grade, “Juicy”.This pastel still life of three pears is my first piece of pastel art I’ve ever created.

This still life made me realize how much I love using pastels. Through this creation I learned many blending techniques and color theory to create dimension and visual interest.

Summit Academy | Liv Saetta

Arlet C.F, 9th grade, “Mountain Field.” I have created a surrealist watercolor painting depicting a woman in front of a mountain field. I applied the wet on wet technique for the background as well as for the clouds. I also used masking tape to prevent the color from bleeding into the middle ground. Speaking of, for the middle ground I tried to replicate light hitting mountains by using monologue hues of blue and purple. Regarding the hills, I used the tip of my brush to create the smaller trees, while the bigger trees were created using the side of my brush. The foreground has a woman with a hole in her face. When painting I hoped to express a sense of belonging. The environment is a part of the woman.

Angel S., 9th grade “Reverie”. The digital piece I created was inspired by Yeule´s song Reverie. Yeule is a Pop Artist from Singapore in her 20´s. In the lyrics of Reverie , Yeule sings about the words “moonlight” and a “broken heart”.

Due to the tone of the lyrics I created a young woman to represent the “moonlight” sitting on a sofa. This song includes an instrumental harp and I created one as the focal point in her lap. I feel this is my best piece because it is my first time drawing realism, realistic facial features, and experimenting with different colors and values.

Summit Academy | Liv Saetta

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Denver Public Schools 2021

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