Art

 

Lakeside Reverie is a photo I took as a freshman while on vacation in China. My dad and I went to a historical park flourishing with water lilies in bloom, and I really enjoyed the scenery. 

Christina Sang is a junior at Methacton High School. Although her main interests involve business, she is open to the various possibilities the future holds, with primary goals of simply being financially stable. She realized in sophomore year that she was fond of Photoshop after taking a photography elective, and now edits photos as a hobby in addition to sewing and repurposing old clothes. She is currently the president of two clubs at her high school and enjoys having a means of temporary release from the brunt of her schoolwork.

Tranquility(oil paint) is a piece that captures the power of the mighty sky, water, and land. While drawing this piece, I imagined myself in a mountainous village in China because growing up I watched many Chinese movies,— and it seemed that such a pure, untouched environment could only be found in a village where urbanization and all the destruction that goes along with it have not yet arrived. Blue Still Life (gouache paint), it is a simple still life, but the rich shades of blue allow each of the different objects in the painting to stand out, and I feel like all of the colors in this still life blend harmoniously and are unique from other still lives that I have seen. My creative process is not so much a process, but rather I like to take microcosms of my life whether it’s reading a poem in class or watching a traditional Chinese movie, and letting them manifest on my paper. I especially enjoy painting landscapes because I find them very calming, and I also hope to convey that to the viewer. 

Velda Wang is a current junior from Atlanta, Georgia. She believes that she is incredibly fortunate to have been able to take art lessons growing up, and so she wanted to provide this opportunity to others through her nonprofit organization, Young Artists, which gives art supplies and art lessons to inner-city children. Her goal is to inspire others and expand their artistic expression.

 

The painting I did of my room is called “Solitude” and it was done using acrylic on canvas. I wanted to be able to capture my bedroom as accurately as possible, from the small paintings hung around my room to the small book sticking out of the cardboard box, in order for my audience to take a glimpse into my everyday life. I really wanted my audience to be able to look at this painting and understand a bit about me because just like how I use art as a way of communication, I want the audience to be able to use my art to learn more about me. 

The last piece, which is called “Disoriented”, is a piece done with pen on ink on toned paper, and it was mainly created as a way to funnel my creativity into something that was seemingly abstract yet realistic at the same time. This can be seen in the blending of a woman’s torso into the background of a horse, or a thumb into that of an owl. I really had fun with this piece because it allowed me to connect seemingly unrelated objects into something abstract and critical.

My creative process is usually very spontaneous. Sometimes, I would have random things pop into my head, such as a fishbowl and an old grandpa in a street market, and then I would quickly write these ideas and thoughts down on the nearest paper. When I have the time, I look back on all the things I wrote down and I try to pick ideas that seemingly are unconnected and incorporate it into a piece that speaks about a recent issue in the world, or an opinion that I would like to share to my audience. Other times, I draw ideas from literature, movies, and songs, and use those as the driving force behind some of my pieces, such that certain songs create different brushstrokes or shades.

 

 

Edward Zhang is currently a junior at Palo Alto High School in California. He has won two Scholastic Art & Awards and earned a Certificate of special recognition in his district’s Congressional Art Competition. Edward enjoys using acrylics to depict portraits and human figures. Additionally, he writes articles about foreign policy for his school’s Agora magazine. In his free time, he walks his dog Snowy.

Both pieces were created using Adobe Photoshop and a Wacom tablet. The figures are all based on photos I took of my family members, both candid and posed. Before I start, I always have a very clear image in my mind of what I want the composition to be. I do some preliminary sketching then I just draw out the figures and objects, using online free stock photos or my own photos as references. After, I color and add shading; sometimes I finish up by adding a bit of texture using different types of brushes. I’ve never had much training in digital art so the illustration process is a bit of trial and error.

 

Joyce He is a high school student from Livingston, NJ. Her art and writing have been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and NJ Governor’s Awards in Arts Education. She is proud to say she knows the Sound of Music soundtrack by heart and has gone on the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. More of her thoughts and art can be found at her blog joocejournal.com (mild cringe alert).