Grad X

Art has always been a prominent presence in my life: I was caught red-handed finger-painting on living room walls, brought unwillingly, then with great excitement, to astounding galleries and museums, and took all the art classes I could, which led me to GY art at CDS. The satisfaction and rush that comes with finishing a piece is one like no other, and it is what motivates me to continue to paint, draw, and create. I’m truly grateful for the passionate, caring art teachers I’ve had over the years who supported me and encouraged me to experiment and grow.

Angst and Yearning, A-Side is a piece I completed for my AP concentration, which has been a series of still life paintings of objects compiled to communicate a certain time period and tie it to an idea or feeling. The objects I’ve chosen for this piece are The Smiths’ “Self-Titled” record, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ “Watchmen” paperback, Joy Division’s “Closer” record, an addressed cassette mixtape, and a pair of headphones. The piece is a compilation of relics of being a teenager in the late ‘80s, captured in the art and media consumed and created. The AP concentration has pushed me to grow quite comfortable painting with oils and has allowed me to make collections of objects exploring pieces of myself and eras past my time that I, nevertheless, feel strangely nostalgic for.

Art is a part of who I am because it allows me to escape physical limitations and romanticize reality by bringing my imagination to life. I have a genuine appreciation for the idea that art can be anything and everything; there are no limits in art, the potential is infinite. Any idea can be visually brought to life through an artist, inspiring the idea that anything is possible and visually transformative with creativity. I am constantly inspired to create because when I dedicate time to visual art I am expressing my creative thoughts and developing my artistic skills. My understanding of visual art has given me a higher sense for admiring art in multifarious forms. This artistic perspective is gratifying and therapeutic.

I created an oil painting of a photo I took on Miami beach. The materials I used include: my canvas, oil paint, varsol, and paint brushes. I titled this painting Where I’d Rather Be for the reason that the idea of being free and on vacation feels more surreal now than ever. The audience’s initial viewing of this painting would reveal the idea of a photograph. The aspects of this painting really portray a moment in time, (i.e. the position of the lemons, the lighting, the clouds, etc). The final product looks sharp and displays a very peaceful space.

Art is a huge part of who I am. It is my favorite and best way to express myself. As a student, going into Art school in post secondary, Art is going to be who I am. Though the path is long and hard, I wish to become a great illustrator like the south Korean artist Kim Jung Gi.

House of Nan Luo is a choice piece that I completed during my grade 12 Art course. It is one of my favorite pieces. The idea behind the piece was to recreate the scenery and how the lighting created the forms and structure of the building. I believe that lighting is the most important part of making a drawing look realistic and come to life. When I look at the piece from a distance, this painting really comes alive and gives that particular scenery a vibe that words can’t quite describe.

Art has had a major influence over my life since a young age. Ever since I first picked up a pencil that day, I have never lost interest in art since. It is very fun to dedicate yourself to such a skill, and even more enjoyable to see the final product as a whole and know you’ve created it with your own hands. The feeling is truly incomparable! I hope to continue to improve on my artworks and learn more about art along the way!

Pink Cloud Summer is a conceptual artwork, based on songs featured on the album Feel Something by Movements. The album heavily focuses on the themes of depression and loss, and the selected array of songs are as follows: Daylily, Suffer Through, and Deep Red. I chose this artwork because it holds a lot of meaning to me. The songs are very important to me and so is this artwork. It symbolises moving away from the rubble and despair and heading towards one’s “pink cloud summer”, which is a repeating lyric in Daylily. The vocalist of Movements has discussed the story behind this song and line. He wrote it for his current girlfriend, who was suffering with anxiety and depression. Her therapist described her recovery as an up and down process - a lot of bad days, but good days too. She called the good ones her “pink cloud days” and the goal was to eventually have those outnumber the bad ones. The piece turned out almost exactly as I wanted - I hope it will carry as much meaning to anyone else who sees it as it did for me.

I have always been an artist. Since I was very young, I would draw and fill in colouring books at home, daycare and kindergarten. During the summers, I would always paint in my backyard. Art has always been one of my favourite subjects in school, but my skills really began to develop once I got to CDS. Even when I wasn’t in art class, I would doodle in other classes because I sometimes found it hard to focus, and it helped me to concentrate. My favourite form of art is pencil drawing. It’s important to me that my work looks realistic. As I look to leave CDS, I hope to enter a Landscape Architecture program where I can continue to create.

This is an artwork of my cat Nala way back when she was a kitten. There is no real big meaning or hidden message within this drawing as it is something that I just wanted to draw. I have always wanted to draw one of my cats, and I saw one of my two choice projects as a good opportunity to do so. I also wanted to draw my cat as a way to improve my ability in drawing realistic fur textures. Fur textures have always been something that was more on my weak side and drawing my cat helped me with making it more of a strength. I used pencil because it is my most comfortable material, and it also made it easy and efficient to make thin, sharp lines for the fur.

Art has always been a part of my life. Growing up I always seemed to be surrounded by it. My grandfather on my mom’s side was an artist. Although he passed before I was born, I always felt like art was something that connected us. When I started drawing I was very little, so little that I did not know how to hold a pencil properly. When I started kindergarten, the teachers tried to retrain me, but I was too stubborn. Now, when I look at the pencil in my hand while I am drawing, it reminds me why I have always loved art. It has given me control, as well as freedom, allowed me to express my emotions, or to just draw without it having to mean anything. I was very lucky to find something that makes me happy at such a young age.

Kaleidoscope is a choice piece of artwork, it is a mandala. This is an arrangement of geometric shapes and elements to create a symmetrical, circular pattern. The pattern was first sketched on a triangular piece of paper before tracing it using a lightbox to form a circle. The mandala was very flat and lifeless, until bright colours were added. I was definitely unsure at first if adding colour would be the right decision. Now that the piece is done, I am very happy I took that chance and pushed myself to do something I was so nervous about. Adding colour has made the piece very bright and more interesting to look at. This piece played to my strengths of drawing various designs and shapes from my imagination. The balance of control and freedom made this piece something that I really enjoyed creating, and I think that is what art should be about.

Visual Art has been a part of my life ever since I was a little kid. I’ve always had a passion for art from when I was in kindergarten all the way up to my senior year of high school. Whether it’s painting on a canvas, drawing in my sketchbook or taking pictures of what’s happening around me, visual art is something that inspires me and I hope to continue to pursue when I get to university. My goal is to continue to grow as a complete artist trying to learn and improve on as many skills as I can. I feel at university I’ll be able to succeed at my goal and make a future for myself in art and become someone.

The theme incorporated into this painting was directed towards gun violence. Gun violence has had a large effect on kids in our society today as there have been so many school shootings. As I was creating this painting, I wanted to make the person viewing this piece experience fear and sadness. I wanted to show the shooter is the center of the picture to emphasize his effect on the dead children and kids running away in fear in the background. Also, I drew the school in the background to show that this is a school shooting and the kids all around helpless and terrified of what is going to happen next. Sadly, this is something that some kids have to face in their schools in today’s world, and by painting this I wanted to show the effect of what a school shooter can do to others. For the background, I used brown and white to add texture and then I added people surrounding the shooter. For their clothes, I made it all warm clothes to emphasize the darkness behind the picture. For the shooter, I wanted to make him look dark so I used black and a dark blue to add texture to his sweater. Also, I put his face as a dark grey to portray a shadow from his hoodie.

The purpose of this piece was to emphasize the impact on the effects of a school shooting. This artwork will help people understand how tragic school shootings are and get a better understanding of the emotional impact of the event.

Art has always been my favourite subject since I was little, I really like the idea of being able to create whatever you want, however you want, and it is still considered art and beautiful. Art is special to me as it is something that is stress free, enjoyable, and relaxing. I like looking at other people’s artwork just as much as I enjoy making it myself as you get to see what different people classify as art and how they express themselves through it.

The artwork I created is of a hydrangea flower on top of a colourful block style background. It was done using acrylic paints on an 11x17 canvas. There isn’t any emotion I was trying to convey with this piece, it was just done because I thought it was a different idea and would be visually appealing. I think having the flower be black and white, while the whole background is in colour, is very visually appealing and worked well.

The development of my relationship with art has not been linear, but I am so happy with where it has taken me today. Since I was young, I’ve always enjoyed creating, and art has been a great but daunting outlet for this. In my earlier years of middle and high school I enjoyed the class, but also doubtfully feared it. I didn’t consider myself a master of any technique, and thought I was lacking the uniqueness of a specific style, things I used to consider requirements. Despite that, I am so happy I joined this class for my last years of high school. My perspective on art has changed recently, and I’ve realized it does not matter if I’m not amazingly skilled. What matters is I enjoy myself and create something that speaks to me. With this new perspective I’ve allowed myself so much room and confidence to improve. This year I opened my mind to using different mediums and switched my focus to communicating. I have had an amazing time in this class and it has shown me how a slight perspective shift can entirely change what you are looking at. It has given me the room to grow in my art, my friendships, and in how I view myself.

This piece has been by far my favorite to work on. It was heavily inspired by the early work of French Expressionist, Henri Matisse. Jardin de La Mère translates to Mother’s Garden in French. It’s connected to the beauty of life and its sustenance. The demonstration of nature and humans is an attempt to show peace in their interaction. I used this piece to work on the general shape and stance of the human figure. All the figures are painted to be idealized in the sense that the garden can provide plentiful food and safety allowing for the figures to be well-fed and healthy. I chose to simplify both the people and the landscape to allow myself to focus on developing the shapes and colours and to better represent the energy of the space.

I have always been drawn to the idea that you can create an artwork from simply your own imagination. Growing up, I was always involved in the arts, whether that was drawing in a sketchbook or playing the piano. I have been at CDS since grade one and I have taken visual art every year. Art for me is a way to escape. Anytime I am feeling overwhelmed or want to express myself in a way I cannot through words, I turn to art. It is therapeutic to be able to take what I feel or imagine and transform it into something visual. Art is not just creating something, it is also a way of creatively and critically thinking. If I had not grown up with the arts, the way I approach life and other small tasks would be drastically different. It has allowed me to see things outside of the box and expand my thinking beyond what is the standard.

Let Them Eat Cake is an oil painting on canvas of two cats smashing a cake. I have tried many mediums of visual art ranging from makeup to pencil on paper, watercolour and more. But out of all the mediums I have tried, oil paint is by far my favourite as it allows me to create vibrant colours and smoothly blended compositions. The painting is not meant to look hyper realistic but more of a soft (in colour and texture) stylized piece. The painting includes one brown cat and one grey cat, as well as a three tiered cake, fork and a vase. What this piece is supposed to capture is mid destruction. The brown cat is destroying the left side of the cake whilst the cake on the right side is collapsing.