The AP Studio Art students and teachers are preparing for their annual exhibition, which will take place next Wednesday, Feb. 24 in the Nichols Atrium, by finalizing pieces and coordinating the details of the event.

The show will present the first half of the students’ concentration series, which is a collection of pieces with a continuous medium and theme submitted to the College Board as a part of the AP examination for the course.

Students have produced work in mediums ranging from wet media, such as drawing or painting, to digital media and sculpture. Each student in the course decided on a specific theme that would dictate the artwork in their portfolio.

The artists began preparing for this exhibition early in the first semester of the year. AP Studio Art instructor Pilar Aguero-Esparza explained that her students selected their themes as early as in October.

“In my classes with the drawing and painting works, I have them start their concentrations in October because it’s slow going and it takes a little while,” she said. “We are also working with the other half of the portfolio during class. The big part of this is about how you can create a series based on that idea how that works, how that plays out, and it works for different people in different ways.”

Sarah Tien (11) elaborated on the medium she uses in her concentration series and the motif that runs through the collection.

“I’m using watercolor and pen. My concentration is based off the contrast between cityscapes and natural forms through lines and colors,” she said. “All of my pieces pertain to one particular place, so one of my pieces is based off of California. There is a contrast between the Golden Gate Bridge and Cathedral Peak of Yosemite, because they both have the same prismatic shape, but because one is naturally formed and the other is more rigid and manmade.”

Another student, Shreya Sunkara (12) discussed her artistic focus in the program and how she uses astrological signs and constellations as the underlying themes of her work.

“I’m in the design program, and so it’s not really based on realism. My concentration idea was the constellations and the horoscopes behind them, so it’s kind of revolving around astrology,” she said. “I didn’t really want to do a realistic take on it because it’s a design-oriented study, and so it was really just utilizing and manipulating different colors and tonal qualities to emphasize the universal nature of these signs.”

Students and teachers invest a large amount of time to bring the show to life each year. Senior Kaylan Huang explains how this year’s exhibit is especially challenging to organize but also the most rewarding.

“It’s a huge scramble of people trying to finish work and get it presentable,” she said. “I’d say that since this is the year with the most students that Studio Art ever had, it should be really exciting. It is a bit hectic, but the final result should be really cool because everyone is super talented and there are a ton of different works this year.”

While the artists are not yet complete with their portfolios, the exhibit marks the halfway point for the students and gives them a chance to see the general reception to their pieces. Each collection will be placed in a certain area of the Atrium dedicated to that artist for the time of the showing.

The art department encourages the Harker community to attend the presentation at 11:15 a.m. next Wednesday during long lunch. Students from all grades may attend to observe the work and enjoy some snacks.