Amanda Nordwall, "Tom Lover"
Moving has always been a big part of my life. The amount of time I’ve lived in one place has averaged less than two years. Along with moving comes many emotions and objects. In my investigation I explored how these feelings are evoked and the tangible items that represent them.
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Katya Little, “La belle dame sans merci”
The architecture of women and fear is the architecture of sovereignty. The history of Western artwork is made up of women who are often observed unknowingly or exposed to emphasize their vulnerability. There is, however, a distinct character that seems to routinely avoid this treatment. My artwork explores this character: that of the monstrous. Female monsters have varied in the stories and works they are depicted in, but share a common thread of autonomy in a distinctly feminine character.
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​I initially set out to cover the wide variety of female horror archetypes that exist in world mythology and culture, trying to vary the personalities of each figure as much as possible. However, over the course of my SI, I found myself being repeatedly drawn toward certain figures, seeking out ways to vary interpretations of the story or myth while still fitting the theme of feminine horror. What quickly became important and compelling to me was the storytelling of a piece through character design and increasingly drawing on and subverting existing art history.
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Kathryn Chadwick, "Rereading"
When I was nine years old I lost my mom. Thus people assume my childhood was sad. My childhood had its lows, but had its highs too. Each person has a unique way of carrying and addressing the past. Some teens like to hoard items from their childhood in their bedroom or storage closets, while others quickly throw away their toys and stuffed animals. My goal is to explore the different ways of how people hold onto the past while also showing the lights and darks of childhood.
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In the beginning, I experiment with different inanimate objects and their locations. People keep items that have sentimental value and put them in places to forget or remember. In pieces 1 and 2, my childhood bears represent memories of the past, but they are put in different locations to contrast how individuals choose to remind themselves or forget the past. I continue practicing with this idea for pieces 3-9. By 10, I revise my idea to show the emotions (solemn, frightened, sad, or indifferent) one feels when facing the past. Thus, I paint people’s reactions to the past. After practicing the idea of the future, inanimate objects in their locations, and reactions to the past, I combined all the ideas in 15.
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Caro Lipsitz, "Greed"
Emotions are very complex and can be brought on by many different things. My concentration explores the emotions evoked by specific mythical creatures and how these emotions and creatures can be realized in an accessible way. The myths and legends behind creatures and even the creatures themselves bring different emotions to the forefront, and my goal is to evoke those emotions in the viewer.
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Link to Portfolio
Sadie Gidner "Bagged Lunch"
My portfolio aims to give a voice to struggling species in hopes of raising awareness to the importance of animal conservation. I explore the vulnerable emotions endangered species face. I show the threats that endangered species endure, many of which contribute to their shrinking size.
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Talia Reo, "Bangs"
"Divine Feminine Energy." I wanted to focus on recreating female beauty and any symbolic representations of this too. I had always been drawn to making art of women so I found that this is a good time to express that. I thought about how I could display my appreciation for the diversity and broad range of femininity. I believe it’s important for people to see and understand that there is not one portrayal of divine feminine energy.
Nadia Hamilton, "Title of piece"
The central idea behind my artist statement is to explore myself and my own understanding or view of myself, and the world around me. Most of my art works are focused around my emotions and how I perceive the world and my experiences. I like to have an emphasis on colors, and character expression.
In my works I love to include bright and expressive colors. In my pieces I experimented a lot with the best way to express an emotion or feeling. I mostly pulled ideas from my imagination and tried to render them with references and my original idea. My art style has changed a lot since the beginning of the investigation, and my use of color, and lighting. I think that it has definitely improved as I’ve learned new techniques. In the end, I decided to remake/remaster my first piece for my 16th piece to see how far, and how much I’ve improved. Lighting is definitely something that I think is very important in a lot of my works, I add a lot of effects to make sure that the mood looks right for the emotion I want to express. My 13th piece for example, is very moody and foggy, it has an air of mystery, and a very sinister feel, and I’m hoping that I captured that well.
Mia Eldert, "Tiny Hands"
My sustained investigation focuses on portraying scenes from dreams I’ve had. The pieces are in sets, showing various events that occur in the same landscape. This piece isn’t from my sustained investigation, it's a drawing I made for my mother based on a story about my grandfather. He had a big garden with a fish pond which he loved, but someone kept stealing his fish. One day it rained, so he went out to see if there were animal tracks. He came back in saying that little children were eating all his fish. It turned out they were raccoon tracks but he was very confused and I think it is funny, it is also one of the only good memories I have of him. (its not an ap piece if it doesn't have a tragic backstory :()
Lauren Puttock, "Anti-Abortion Laws"
This is a chalk drawing that represents anti-abortion laws and how they prevent women from having control over their own bodies. Instead, the figure is being held back by the flag, while the old, male lawmaker behind her is putting his hands all over her. If you're interested, my AP Art concentration is about Gender Inequality in the United States and you can see some of my other work in the link below.
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Victoria Huske, "Botanical Garden"
For my sustained investigation I explored the relationship between humans and water. As a swimmer, I’ve always felt a deep connection to water. Fascinated with the way humans interact with it, I decided to explore the meaning of water in the context of human experience. Through my work I wanted to convey my positive experiences with water and its importance in my life. Different painting styles are used to show water’s changing nature. A realistic style was used as well as my own spin on impressionism to show how water can provide for us in different contexts. A cool color scheme is used in this portfolio to create a peaceful mood for the viewer. This helps the audience to forge a positive connection between water and humans. Organic shapes and thick brush strokes are used in a few of the paintings to explore the ways water provides for us and to convey both water's unpredictability and predictability.
Fiona Daidy, "Interdimensional Trap"
My concentration focuses on the subject of the struggles of women and minority communities. I often find myself processing the daily barrage of challenging issues such as social injustice through my artwork. My personal experiences from growing up in American society as a woman have heavily influenced my body of work and have inspired me to explore how other minority communities such as POC and LGBTQ+ peoples interact with the world. Each artwork I have created has a unique narrative that either critiques society’s standards for women and other minorities or depicts the hardships that we face.
Branden Forman, "New Start"
My sustained investigation is about Life in Desolation. Throughout my life, I’ve struggled to be confident about myself. My body of work explores people's mental state of feeling depressed and having low confidence. I use monsters to be physical embodiments of negative emotions. At the end of the portfolio, I bring positive emotions and friends to help think positively and be more confident.
Emily Larsen, "Family Hike"
My sustained investigation is a love letter to my family. I am inspired by the positive aspects of life and my family is the biggest positive influence in my life. In my sustained investigation I want to explore what makes us family beyond our blood relations. Family is defined by the emotional characteristics of the relationships, not the physical characteristics. Characteristics such as comfort, support, memories, and safety are what make a group of people family.
Abigail Cohen, "Moana"
For my sustained investigation, I explored fairy tales. Fairy tales make so many children happy, so I wanted to turn it into something I can explore as a young adult. Especially in this time of craziness and uncertainty, I wanted to focus my artwork on something uplifting and cheerful. Fairy tales are incredibly close to my heart, as they were a huge part of my childhood, so by interpreting them in a new way and transforming them into art is incredibly rewarding and enjoyable for me.
Lauren Sartori, "The Rose Window Halo"
“A Study of a Legacy of Faith” explores the legacy of faith through architecture, focusing on Catholicism. This faith has lasted thousands of years and has shaped our world today, and the churches built to glorify this faith are pieces of art. For each church, I have two different pieces: a surface level understanding and an intimate more personal piece.
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Link to Full Portfolio: https://laurenasartori.wixsite.com/artportfolio/ap-portfolios