Long Reach High School
Jaylin Smith
Grade: 11 Course: Art 4 AP Title: Pandemic Medium: Acrylic, Sharpie, Tape Instructor: Heather Leatherman Artist Statement This piece depicts the blatant discrimination and slander against African Americans and Asian Americans during the pandemic. Somehow throughout the chaos and haste to stay safe, people have found a way to blame the results of the pandemic on Asians as a whole or have made it difficult for black people to go outside with a mask on because they are deemed to be “suspicious”. Hurtful words are taped onto the characters’ faces to show what these two races are forced to endure during the COVID-19 outbreak. Dark, exaggerated marks are shown as a background to symbolize the hateful atmosphere surrounding these people and the consuming and suffocating feeling that comes with it. The two figures side by side are inspired my two friends who provided insight on the pandemic related discrimination they have been experiencing. |
Stephanie Tran
Grade: 11 Course: Art 4 AP Title: Nightmares Medium: Ink Instructor: Heather Leatherman Artist Statement Throughout this piece, I was heavily inspired by the style and subjects of mangaka Junji Ito. As he is a horror artist. I aimed to create art that showed my own horrors and fears, both physically and emotionally. I also took inspiration from typical black and white manga illustrative styles and experimented with them. Though emotional fears cannot hurt you physically and are stuck to the confines of one’s brain, I wanted to show my emotional fears consuming me through my physical ones. Here, I illustrated entomophobia and trypophobia. In the background, each object illustrated represents a broad example of my own fears that constantly burden my mind. For example, the stuffed-rabbit represents that of abandonment. A toy abandoned by a child to rot away. The webs represent being stuck, not being able to improve myself, or try new things. I had also experimented with the layering of paper and hatching, where the holes in the figure are cut out, and the surrounding panels are raised from the surface. All-in-all, this piece allowed me to really think about my fears, and confront my feelings about them. |
Avery Yelton
Grade: 11 Course: Photo II Title: After Dark Medium: Digital Photograph Instructor: Alex Borleis Artist Statement I wanted my composition to capture how I feel after dark, after midnight doing homework and watching tv alone in my basement. I wanted to use resources I already had available to me and simply photographed how I look normally when the moon comes out and I’m in pajamas, hair wet from the shower with tired eyes. I experimented with lighting, trying to utilize the light from my laptop as the primary method of illumination. I used my phone and a timer to take the photograph. I then used Photoshop to desaturate my final image, giving it a more “after dark” mood. I am very happy with the final outcome of the image and feel I successfully captured my normal experience at night. |
Erin Bennett
Grade: 12 Course: Photo III AP Title: Clown in Smoke Medium: Digital Photograph Instructor: Alex Borleis Artist Statement My personal belief with my photography is that I need to be experimenting and trying something new in order to be satisfied with my work. For one of my last big pieces before I graduate, I chose to try something completely new and different from anything else I’ve done. I decided I wanted to take photos and use my projector to project them into a cloud of smoke to create a ghost effect. First, I took photos with my friend/model wearing their clown costume since the bright colors of the costume really popped. Then the difficult process came and I had to find a way to make some kind of smoke effect that would be thick enough to project an image on to. Using dry ice ended up being the perfect solution. Once the dry ice was the right amount of smokey I aimed the projector with my chosen image at it and took about 200 photos to make sure I had at least one good one. Luckily, I did have a few good ones and I was able to find one I really liked, add some minor edits, and have my final image. One of my biggest fears is that my photos will get repetitive and all of my work will start to look the same, so to avoid that I constantly imagine new methods and practices. I feel that this photo perfectly captured my passion for experimenting and was a perfect photo for the end of the year. |
Gina Lee
Grade: 12 Course: Art Studio Honors Title: At What Cost Medium: Digital (MedibangPaint!) Instructor: Heather Leatherman Artist Statement During the last few months of this pandemic, there has been a rise in Asian-hate crimes. We have always been discriminated against, but we’ve been brushed over and over again, never truly addressing the hate - until now. Blaming us for bringing the virus into the country, mocking us for our limited English, jeering us to return to our country, spitting at us, beating us, bullying us. What does beating us do? What does spreading hate against us do? At what cost does someone’s life exchange for the freedom of simply “not wearing a mask”? One? Two? Six? Multiple? The answer should be none. The crimes won’t bring resolution, it only brings waves of anger, grief, and more hatred. There are two places I wanted to focus on for this piece: my eyes and the candlelight. My eyes are the defining trait of what makes East-Asians identifiable through the lens of society; our almond-shaped black or dark-brown colored eyes. The candlelight is burning for the remembrance for the innocent that have passed as a result of Asian-hate crimes, signifying how they won’t be forgotten. Ironically, it almost seems, however, that society has forgotten and has moved on with their daily lives. The media coverage centralizes the killer and mispronounces the victims’ names. The social media coverage gave the issue it’s limelight but it also dissipated. That is why I put focus on myself, someone of East-Asian descent, to draw attention to me, my eyes, and the candle; to ingrain the issue at hand. Do not forget the result of hate, do not forget those who were affected, do not forget the cost of the lives that were taken. For the cost is now fear, anger, and hatred in the divided states of America. |
Gabrielle Ranoa
Grade: 12 Course: Photo 3 AP Title: Summer Grass Medium: Digital Photograph Instructor: Alexandra Borleis Artist Statement With this piece, I aimed to represent the embodiment of doing chores with a lawn mower as the subject, specifically doing chores during the summer. Where many feel as though it is a time for vacation, the task of doing chores still linger, and even more so now that the grass has started growing again. I expanded on the idea of how people at different stages in their lives perceive their responsibilities, and in this case, the responsibility of doing chores that many can relate to regardless of age. Point of view was the primary focus when composing this image, the exaggerated proportions of the lawn mower compared to the person using it represents the daunting task of doing chores. While the post process consisted of capturing the colors of a bright summer day, with the intent of appreciating the summer season despite doing an undesirable task. |
Kyle Sappington
Grade: 12 Course: Art 3 AP Title: Dysphoria Medium: Digital Art Instructor: Heather Leatherman Artist Statement: In this piece I wanted to explore the way that gender dysphoria warps my perception of self. I wanted to specifically focus on the fact that what I see in the mirror doesn’t reflect how I feel and is almost unrecognizable to what I should be. This was the first piece in my portfolio in which I started experimenting with limited color palettes. The “real world” side of the piece only uses reds and the reflection side uses only blues. This creates a starker contrast between reality and my perception of myself. I used reds and blues specifically to represent frustration and sadness. I also used a chromatic aberration filter to literally distort the reflection, to again show that my reflection is unrecognizable compared to how I feel. Art gives me a way to express my experiences and emotions. I have trouble putting my feelings into words, but creating art allows me to represent my thoughts in a way that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to say. Topics such as my relationship to religion or concepts like gender dysphoria feel almost impossible for me to explain without visually representing them in some way. |