TAS’s IB artists officially opened their showcases today after school at the IB Studio Art reception. Here’s what Emily O. (12), Sonya H. (12), Ahyoon K. (12), June P. (12) and Stephanie C. (12) have to say about their pieces:
Where do you get inspiration?

Sonya H: Most of the time I get inspiration from artists that inspire me, or current challenges I’m facing in real life. For example, in a few pieces I was looking for something that’s overlooked in life. I chose the act of “going out” because I feel like people are always just on their phone or computer screens and staying at home, and no one is ever going out anymore. So in my pieces I tried to reconstruct these elements. In this piece, the girl is looking at her screen, and even though she has books and nature surrounding her, she is still absorbed in her own world. Nature is no longer the dominant thing in our life even though it’s what we came from.

Ahyoon K: Artists that inspire me are Jimmy Liao, who is a Taiwanese illustrator, and Yoshitomo Nara, a Japanese artist who draws really large faces. For my childhood theme, I’m taking AP Psychology right now, and we’re learning about Freud. His idea is that childhood affects your lives and personality a lot.
Can you tell me about your favorite piece or medium?

Emily O: My favorite piece is “Y so serius” because these people that you always see on the news they’re always talking about serious stuff, so I was thinking, what if they were actually really weird in their private lives?
Sonya H: One of my favorite pieces is this watercolor because I actually never planned any initial draft, I just went straight on with watercolor. It was also my first watercolor piece out of the entire series. I brought in whatever color I had on my brush and even though it was a spur-of-the-moment piece, the outcome was surprisingly good. It kind of shows how when you’re inspired things just seem to be the best.

June P: My favorite piece is my shoe design because it’s my first fashion design piece. I was inspired by animal prints and hard metal accessories, which led me to make this shoe design. I used to love working with acrylic for my paintings but because of my love for fashion design I began working with 3D materials. I usually don’t go to sleep at all just to finish an artwork.

Stephanie C: My favorite medium to work with is silver because it’s softer and easier to manipulate. For my candle holder, I started off with a square piece of flat copper and I folded it in half and hammered the ends to turn it into the flower. Then I soldered on the vines and leaves and you can insert a candle into the middle. This piece took about a month. My favorite piece is perpetual ribbon because I really like working with organic lines and it looks like a ribbon frozen in time. I think art has become a part of my life, and it has been ever since I was little, and art is something I want to pursue in college. Hopefully art can be a part of my future career. I’m thinking about partnering art with psychology because I eventually want to become an art therapist.