This year, aiming to grow the arts department at Northwood, visual arts teacher Leslie Burwell introduced the school’s newest AP class: AP Studio Art.
Burwell welcomed five students to Chatham County’s first AP art class. The course features a project-based curriculum in which students spend the semester preparing their portfolios to be submitted as a supplement for the AP exam. It also allows young artists to pursue drawing along with 2-D and 3-D design.
With this new course came new challenges for Burwell and her students.
“I think the biggest challenge was making people aware [that they should] spend more time on their work,” Burwell said. “Shifting from a choice-based program in Art III to having to create specific breadth assignments and an expanded concentration was difficult.”
The students were instructed to create a series of “breadth” assignments in which they demonstrate their understanding of the principles of design in multiple mediums. After this, the students create their “concentration,” an in-depth exploration into a single theme that is expected to flow together as a body of work.
Burwell believes this class offers a helpful look into the future for budding artists trying to discover what they want to pursue.
“You get to experience what it is like to do original thinking and not have anybody tell you what to think,” Burwell said. “And that’s really what the concentration is all about. You’re having to forcefully ask yourself, ‘Who am I as an artist?’ and, ‘What do I want to make and say?’ and that’s really a college-level idea. It allows people to be more aware of who they are earlier.”
Sierra Blackwell
The work of senior Sierra Blackwell focuses on the effects that mankind has on nature.
“We’re literally killing the earth, and it’s happening so much faster than people realize,” Blackwell said. “There are efforts being made, but it’s not enough. People don’t realize that it’s just getting worse every day, and I really want my work to convey that.”
Blackwell takes inspiration from Canadian artist Alexandra Levasseur whose works combine nature and the human body to convey the relationship they share. Just as Levasseur takes inspiration from nature, Blackwell takes it from direct observation.
“Just seeing all the stuff that’s happening in the world and in my own backyard [because of] our effect on the environment makes me want to say something about it,” Blackwell said. “These animals just can’t survive, and it’s because of us.”
Joseph Lorbacher
The 3-D design concentration produced by senior Joseph Lorbacher focuses on famous architecture and how it is reflected in the natural environment.
“I chose to use the natural architecture of the world and compare it to what humans have created themselves, just to see how sophisticated architecture in nature is,” Lorbacher said.
The body of work intends to relate a message about the complexities of nature so often overlooked.
“I wanted to say that we’re part of nature, too,” Lorbacher said. “That we ourselves are animals, and that even though we can create all these amazing structures, so can other parts of the world.”
In deciding how to construct his pieces, Lorbacher took inspiration from his travels abroad to Europe. The architecture of famous buildings that he observed in Italy and Spain, like Antoni Gaudí’s La Sagrada Familia, are frequently referenced in the structure of his works.
Rachel Ponder
The body of work senior Rachel Ponder produced in AP Studio Art centers on feminist themes that encourage body positivity and the empowerment of women.
“With my work, my main goal was for people to interpret it in the way that they would like to interpret it,” Ponder said. “I want to reach specifically young girls, and by adding a lot of nudity to my works, I want to reach out and spread the message that our bodies are acceptable, that nudity is okay and that we should enjoy how beautiful women are.”
Ponder’s work is inspired by the women in her life and through her strong connection to nature. She was inspired to play with the idea of Mother Nature in order to convey her message.
“Because Mother Nature is such a strong symbol for the creation and support of mankind, I tried to play with her image in creative ways to convey that women provide the same role,” Ponder said.
She also aims to connect her pieces to current issues like the #MeToo movement and women’s reproductive rights.
– By Lanna Read
