![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
AP Art Exhibits display pieces from 20 students
Shea Bryden (11) and Deeya Verma (9) attend the AP Art Exhibition’s lunch reception on March 8. Each student in the AP Art classes picked out and mounted five of their pieces for the exhibition.
March 11, 2022
Walking into the Nichols Atrium on Tuesday, instead of being greeted by gray concrete walls and empty space, you’d walk into an absorbing two-story museum of artwork, artwork painting the Nichols walls red and yellow, dark and light, flat and three-dimensional, artwork all created by upper school students.
The AP Art Exhibitions opened on Mar. 4 in the Nichols Atrium, featuring five pieces of artwork each from 20 students that they created over the course of the year.
Art students from the AP Studio Art classes installed their work, part of their Sustained Investigation portfolios, last week in the upstairs and downstairs of the Nichols building, and they hosted a reception on March 8 during long lunch. The artwork in the exhibition will be on display until March 10.
The featured work covered four categories of artwork: Digital Media, Wet Media, Drawing and Spatial. The Digital Media category, taught by upper school Visual Arts Department Chair Josh Martinez, showcased pieces by Timothy Yen (11), Aniket Singh (11), Radha Mehta (11), Ashley Barth (12), Nageena Singh (12), Madeleine Hansen (12), Shreya Balakrishnan (11) and Smrithi Sambamurthy (11). Wet Media, taught by upper school visual arts teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza, contained works by Nicole Arena (12), Sophia Shan (11), Kurtis Tong (11) and Angelina Yuzifovich (12). In Drawing, also taught by Aguero-Esparza, were pieces by artists Vivian Bi (11), Karina Chen (11), Sonya He (11), Linette Hoffman (11), Aastha Mangla (11) and Austina Xu (11). Spatial, taught by upper school visual arts teacher Brian Caponi, featured pieces by Shea Bryden (11) and Tara Ozdemir (12).
The students work on developing a twelve to fifteen piece portfolio for their AP submission, and selected five of their works to display in the exhibition. Shea Bryden (11) decided to use sculpture in their art pieces, which included a metal dress made out of thrifted materials and brightly colored wall-mounted pieces.
“Sculpture is my favorite medium by far,” Shea said. “A lot of my work is inspired by the materials that I find around me. Every piece of this came from thrift stores, or at least most of them, so it’s taking ideas I have and the materials I have and finding a way to combine them.”
During the reception on Tuesday, dozens of upper school students, teachers and parents visited the Nichols Atrium, enjoying cookies and cheesecake bites as they gazed at the artwork. Visitors could also ask the artists about their work, whether photography, painting or even an interactive light exhibit.
“It’s interesting getting to hear what people are saying as they look at my stuff, and then it’s also relatively personal, so everyone that reads it, knows it’s made by me,” Shea said. “[My peers] all did such an incredible job like everyone was so personal and like they had such strong messages and all this stuff, and it’s really incredible.”
