Meet the Artist: May AP Art Students
May 7, 2023
Victoria Sydeski
12th Grade, AP Art Student
May 8th, 2023
Q: What was your concentration and why did you choose it?
A: My concentration is exploring biology and medicine through my brother’s experiences with epilepsy. I chose this concentration because when my brother was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 10, and experienced multiple seizures a day, I knew that this would impact him and our family for the rest of our lives. I wanted to create art that incorporated biology and medicine into his personal experiences (such as brain anatomy, MRI screenings, EEG tests and medicine labels).
Q: What was your favorite piece of the year and what inspired you to make it?
A: My favorite piece is my third piece. It is a medical hand/glove controlling my brother as a puppet through medical wires. I did it in chalk pastel. I was inspired to make this piece because of the prominent control that hospitals and doctors have over my epileptic brother. They’re always running tests on him.
Q: What was your process for your pieces?
A: My process behind my pieces is first asking my brother about his feelings while he was in the hospital or right after he had a seizure. His descriptive emotions inspire me to create pieces that evoke a heavy feeling in the audience, and portray his experiences through artistic mediums.
Q: Anything else you would like to say about your work or AP Art class…
A: I encourage everyone to take AP Studio Art. This class allows you to express your creativity through art. Your resilience to create 15 unique pieces in a school year is truly an accomplishment and can set you apart from other students.
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Adam Barrett
12th Grade, AP Art Student
May 1st, 2023
Q: What was your concentration and why did you choose it?
A: My concentration is making illustrations that reflect the mood and lyrical themes of the music I listen to. I decided to focus on this concept because listening to music has always brought images to my mind, so I thought it would be a fun challenge to translate the auditory medium of music into a visual medium.
Q: What was your favorite piece of the year and what inspired you to make it?
A: My favorite piece I did this year was the one I did based on Down In a Hole by Alice In Chains. I was inspired by the lyrics, which detail a person who has been consumed by an unhealthy relationship. I drew a creature whose design is supposed to metaphorically represent the lyrical themes. The overall look of the drawing was inspired heavily by the work of H.R. Giger and Mahiro Maeda, as they both draw a lot of grotesque, mutant characters.
Q: What was your process for your pieces?
A: It varied slightly from piece to piece, but I mostly followed the same process everyone else in AP Art did. We start by gathering reference images, and then make thumbnails based on them (thumbnails are small sketches that artists use to test out ideas, they’re like an outline but for art). Unfortunately we don’t have time to freehand any of our sketches because of the tight deadlines, so we then trace our drawings from our references or thumbnails. From there we finish rendering our projects in whatever medium we’re using.
Q: Anything else you would like to say about your work or AP Art class…
A: I think AP Art has been a good experience for me, despite occasionally feeling limited and frustrated by the deadlines. The environment of the class is really great, it’s really fun to be around so many other creative people and to walk around and see what each person is making. Mrs. Satterfield also deserves recognition for all the guidance she gives us, she always makes sure that we’re on track and helps us make the best art we can.
