AP Art Students Complete Their Yearlong Portfolios

By Maddie Aitken ’19

In the beginning of the school year, students in AP Studio Art select the mediums they will work in and come up with a concentration on which they will focus. They spend all year working independently on pieces, curating a portfolio that gets sent to the College Board for grading in May, during the AP exam period. Students can choose to submit their portfolios as 2-D Design, Drawing or 3-D Design. All portfolios include a concentration section for pieces that demonstrate a student’s chosen concentration; a breadth section for pieces that showcase a student’s range of ability; and a quality section for a student’s best pieces.

In an effort to share student artwork, as well as celebrate AP students for finishing their portfolios, we have selected a few pieces from the concentration sections of the portfolios of some students in the class. We also included excerpts from their concentration statements.

Jean Fang ’19

Concentration statement: The life cycle is the central idea of my concentration…I shifted my focus to coral reef, turtles and fishes. I realized the fish are the most fascinating as they show how numbers matter – the true meaning of life cycle that I tried to deliver – as there might be hundreds of them when they are young but only less than 10 of them are going to survive through the cruelty of competition.

Julian Lopez ’19

Concentration statement: My concentration orbits around the idea of reflective objects capturing the illusion of the way light acts on the image. I intend to use this portfolio as an exploration of light using realistic textures accompanied by graphite, charcoal, paint, and colored pencil. These works focus on capturing depth and space as well as textures from rough to smooth. As Thomas Merton once said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”…Initially, to achieve this study of light, texture, and depth in my drawings I choose objects which offered and the element of reflection such as I did with my drawing Key…as I moved towards the end of my study of objects and light I began to add color as well as the angle of the objects in the drawings.

Maddie Aitken ’19

Concentration statement: The central idea of my concentration is texture, both tactile and visual. I added texture to my pieces in two ways – either onto the clay with various tools before firing, or onto the finished piece with glazes after firing. I used texture to elevate my pieces beyond their basic thrown shapes, making forms distinct and unique…Although texture is typically thought of as something only experienced by touch, I consider visual texture a type of texture experienced by sight, so I included pieces with visual texture, in addition to tactile texture, in my concentration.

Anne Beatty ’19

Concentration statement: Confrontation. I began to explore my own facial features that I did not want to accept. I applied this “self-image rehab” to other aspects of the world around me that I did not feel comfortable confronting. The things that are an innate part of our existence that we avoid – are they problems, or do we just not like them?…I wanted to make art that would catch a lot of people’s attention, even those that didn’t appreciate art. I make colorful, fun portraits, and implement abstract, cartoon-like drawings representing the inevitable truths of humanity that we may not want to accept. In most of my portraits, I incorporate images of violence, the naked body, anxiety, depression, pedophilia, lying – things that have existed since the dawn of society that we may not feel comfortable confronting in everyday life.

Catie Stammen ’20

Concentration statement: The central idea of my concentration is the idea of equality despite difference. My paintings consist of a variety of different people who are all demonstrated in black and white. In a society where people are constantly judged for looking the way they do or being the way they are, I have presented my condensed painting society as the same.

Talia Zabit ’19

Concentration statement: The central idea of my concentration investigates facial structure and the relationships between color and emotion. Instead of depicting facial expressions, I use colors to illustrate different emotions. Our emotions are what make us human; they preserve our individuality. I wanted to demonstrate individuality through indifferent yet colorful facial expressions. Emotion is often overwhelming and my goal was to make the audience feel connected to and moved by my concentration pieces.

Phil Liu ’19

Concentration statement: My concentration is about the interaction between architecture and humans. Architectures are practical structures that are designed for people to live in. However, architectures can not only be changed by people who design them but also can be altered by the people who live in them…In this project, I travel around the southern part of China to record some “architectures art.”