Every year IB Art seniors hold a gallery towards the end to the year to display their artistic talents through pieces they have created during their final year.
On April 19, the IB Visual Arts Gallery was held in the Lecture Hall where parents and teachers came to witness the personal creativity students portrayed through their personal galleries.
Each student exhibited their own style and interests through a personal gallery containing a minimum of 15 individual pieces. The seniors worked for almost two years on their gallery pieces, developing as individual artists along the way.
Both seniors Alex Li and Rachel Hume centered their individual galleries on their love for creepy phenomena.
“I like to draw things that are kind of creepy,” said Li. “I did pencil drawings on a small scale and drew a bunch of people with cleft palates, girls with anorexia, and people with scoliosis, emphasizing the scar the patients get after a surgery. It was really cool and diverse.”
“I like drawing eerie things that people might like to look at,” said Hume. “I then used colorful paints to balance out the odd and creepy subjects. I got my gallery idea through biology because I enjoy it, and my piece was a play-on-words of a dental crown. I made the tooth out of plaster and chicken wire to make something that I could wear and show off. I took a picture while I wearing it, and then when it was standing, I filled with candy. “
When asked which artist was their favorite from all the displayed seniors, both students said it was fellow IB Art senior Lucy Yen.
“I liked Lucy’s paintings because she made this head that was turned and then layered,” said Li. “It’s hard to explain, but it was really cool.”
Yen held a special honor at the gallery, having her self-portrait placed in the front of the room, being the first artwork all guests see when walking in. Yen’s style is more personal and self-reflective.
“I like to focus on the human form because it is something you can draw out of an emotional response,” said Yen. “For me it’s a tactile and satisfying experience on a deeper level and I can express myself in a way I can enjoy.”
The self portrait is her favorite of all 20 pieces created and holds a special place.
“I did a set of portraits that were on the cover of the program,” said Yen. “I painted three different sides of me- the first vanity, the second critical, and the third indecisive. I liked painting it even though it took me almost the whole summer. But, it was very honest and I loved working on it.”
Yen will attend Virginia Commonwealth University for their arts program, pursuing a major in communication arts.
