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AP Studio Art exhibition showcases artworks from students’ concentration portfolios
Madison Tomihiro (12) hangs up one of her pieces that she drew for her portfolio. The exhibition featured art works from a total of 25 students taking the AP course.
March 3, 2016
Students in the AP Studio Art class held an exhibition in the Nichols Atrium on Wednesday during long lunch.
Students, faculty and parents were allowed to come observe the artworks done by the 25 students who are taking the AP course, the greatest number of students yet.
The students displayed a selection of works that were part of their concentration portfolios, which were all based on a single idea that they were exploring. They then created a series of artworks that investigated that certain idea.
This reception serves as a halfway mark for the students in their concentration portfolios and it helps them get critique from the larger community and to see what’s working and what’s not.
Joshua Martinez, the photography teacher and the instructor for the 2D digital group, commented on how this exhibit benefits the AP students and how it serves as a good opportunity for them to learn and come up with new ideas.
“I think it’s exciting for the students to do the AP show because they’re just starting to figure out what their concentrations are going to be and this is the first time for them to be able to show it off and to get feedback from the larger community about it so everybody is a little nervous and a little excited and just sort of waiting to see how it turns out,” he said. “They’ve all been working so hard, it’s going to be really exciting to see it.”
All of the works were composed using a variety of different mediums, which include painting and drawing, photography and graphic design, as well as sculpture.
The required number of pieces differed for each class; for the 2D and drawing portfolios, students needed to complete a total of 12 works, while for 3D portfolios, a total of eight works were necessary.
Doreene Kang (12), who is in 2D wet media, expressed her opinions about the art show and how she enjoyed the end product of her work compared to the process.
“It’s pretty fulfilling because working on 12 pieces over the course of the year that are connected, it’s pretty hard because of all the deadlines, and eventually, you start running out of ideas,” she said. “Just letting the rest of the school see what you’ve been working on and [to] be able to see everything together compiled in an art show is nice as an artist.”
When the exhibit was first held in 2005, the reception took place in Shah, but it was later moved to the Nichols Atrium after the construction of the building, which helped display the artworks better and served as a more spacious community space for students and faculty to gather in.
Another one of the AP Studio Art instructors, Pilar Aguero-Esparza, explained her perspective of the art exhibit and how for some students, it serves as a motivational source to get their work done.
“For me, I really see it as a celebration because it’s a lot of work, it’s very personal; it’s kind of scary for some students; it’s showing and sharing something that can be very personal to a student; it can be a little bit intimidating, but I find it to be very exciting; I find it to be celebratory,” she said. “I think another thing is that having the deadline of an exhibit, [for] some students, it really inspires them and gets them fired up to do more work, to commit to it.”
For many of the students, time was an issue in the whole process of preparing for the exhibition. Kevina Xiao (12), who is part of the 2D design class taught by Martinez, discussed some of the hardships she faced while assembling her works.
“My class started late so we definitely had that time crunch because it was pretty hard to turn out one concentration piece per week and we’re not even halfway through so I predict that’s going to be pretty hard in the future,” she said. “Another thing is that we’re still kind of finding what we want to say overall in our portfolio so we’re still experimenting and that’s also kind of hard for the development of our pieces.”
The end of the year exhibit for all students taking an art course will take place on April 27.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on March 3, 2016.
