“Into the Amazon” AP Art show a testament to talent and a legacy that lives on
April 23, 2015
Last Saturday, April 18th, 2015, the AP Art show “Into the Amazon” was unveiled to the public in a reception that stunned visitors with impressive art, and continued the legacy of the magnificent show former art teacher Mark Wangberg created over 20 years ago. The show’s theme was based around how Wangberg went to go teach art in the Amazon Rainforest, and also how every student in the show took a metaphorical journey this year with having a new teacher, and included works students made relating to the Amazon to tie in with the overall theme. All of the ticket proceeds from the event also went to Amazon Deforestation funds.
“Into the Amazon” was not only a big event for the Art department and those in the AP Art show though, as many community members and other high school students came out to see the art, or to support friends. It also featured local foods for gallery goers that was donated to the show by various restaurants. The AP Art show really did turn the library into a different space, with individual sections for each of the 14 artists involved where their work was showcased for the night and for the last few days in the library.
Art that was displayed during the show ranged from artist to artist, as each had a different concentration and style, and so we here at The Fordian decided to ask each of the artists about what inspires them, and what their art is about.
Meet the Artists:
 Senior Shane Cummings
“My concentration revolves around Gods and Deities, and I draw that from my interest in history. I also look at really modern pieces, and good music when I’m making art, because I get in the zone.”
Hardest Part? – “Finding my style as an artist. Going into the class I really didn’t know, but now I have a good grasp on my designs and what I like.
Senior Max Bowden
“My Concentration is bugs. I just like drawing bugs and stuff. Insects, spiders, and other things. A lot of times to get into the mood for art, I drink a lot of coffee, don’t sleep, and get into a fever-dream state and then put my thoughts down on paper.”
Hardest part? – “Definitely just getting all of the little things done. Mounting, making the brochures and labels. That came at the end and hit me like a brick wall.”
Senior Mara Baratka
“My Concentration is fantastical creatures. There are things you’ve seen, but most I have made on the spot. It’s just sort of whatever I’m feeling. Whether it’s Vampires, or other recognizable things, i like to try my own things
Hardest Part? -“Probably be the labels because I had trouble naming everything.”
Senior Esther Jang
“Expressive Portraiture. But it’s more than just portraits, because there’s a lot of meaning behind my works. It’s very conceptual. I like to go simple and straight-forward. I draw inspiration from anything really. You’ve got to be open-minded.”
Hardest Part?- “I think it was getting motivation to get the pieces started. Even if you don’t feel like doing art, you have to just push yourself to start.”
Junior Sofia Turco
“My Concentration is about my eating disorder Anorexia, and how I went through it, and the process of recovery. I really like puns, and I really like animals and nature so I also incorporated those elements into my works too.”
Hardest Part? – “Besides the layout, revealing to everyone here about my eating disorder because it’s something that I’ve been working through, and not a lot of people know about.”
Senior Julia Magidson
“I started with Nature, and the Human connection with Nature, both negatively and positively. While I was drawing really natural imagery the patterns I saw in Nature I began to bring more of patterns into it. Most of my new work is focused on putting those things into Expressive Portraiture.”
Hardest Part? – “Making everything work together. You have to look at not only your space, but your pieces and how each one works with the other. Getting final touches in to make everything visually appealing was probably the hardest part.”
Senior Chris Lee
“My concentration focuses on Mythology. Different mythological stories and motifs that I like to incorporate in new visual contexts. I do so using other artist’s styles and from pop culture to strengthen my own work.”
Hardest Part – “For me, creating Art is never a sequence. But it can be really tough to conceptualize your work and plan it out in your head as to what you’re actually going to do.”
Junior Kate Huangpu
“Colin you and your face inspire me. My concentration though is about Expressive Portraiture and getting pictures form my friends or having them sit for me and finding something about them and illustrate it in the piece.”
Hardest Part? – “Deciding whether or not to put some pieces in over others. I don’t like to leave some of them out, but I had to decide eventually.”
Junior Emma Kellor
“My art is about flowers, but more about how in the Victorian era how people communicated using flowers. They say a lot and it said a lot to me that flowers seem to have a whole language about them.”
Hardest Point? – “Planning everything out was really hard, especially getting everything in here and working with these often wobbly display boards.”
Junior Bridget Murray
“My concentration is about trees. I’ve always been interested in Nature, and trees are the one thing I really like looking at and they kind of calm me down.”
Hardest Part?- “At the end, I kind of hit a point where it got old after a while making art. But mounting and putting everything up was the fun part seeing it all come together.”
Senior Emilie Patton
“It’s definitely from Nature. I really like all the details found in Nature and like to incorporate them in my art using pen and inks, and a lot of sewing through patterned fabric. My concentration was book art based off of life experiences that determine values.”
Hardest Part? – “Making it all flow together. Every book is different from the next whether it’s color, size, or shape, and making all of them look right next to each other really was hard.”
Senior Haylee Cohen
“My concentration is Expressive Portraiture and at the begining of the year I was doing a lot of paintings and drawings but I went back to Photography which is what I like best and what I focused on last year.”
Hardest Part? – “Working with the space was pretty difficult. We had to make various 3-D models of where we would put everything compositionally.
Senior Roxanne Datko
“Animals really inspire. The shapes, lines and colors I find very lively and I wanted to share that through my art. My concentration is animals with human characteristics, and personifying animals in images.”
Hardest Part? – “I think, probably figuring out how everything fits with each other and getting everything to balance.”
Senior Grace Lubar-Swety
“My art is about equality between Men and Women, it’s about Love, and it’s about feminism.”
Hardest Part? – “Finishing most of the pieces towards the end.”
Chis Lel • Apr 23, 2015 at 10:23 pm
the fire hydrant and screwdriver aren’t emma’s haha