Nearly a year of preparation has brought the students of AP Studio Art to the finalization of their portfolios, showcasing their artwork and talent to College Board.

From the end of last school year, the students, led by art teacher Kymberly Noone have been working on their portfolios that exemplify their creativity and artistic ability.

The AP Studio Art curriculum entails that students create portfolios of their artwork for college submission. Throughout the year, the students work in two areas of focus. The first area, called their “sustained investigation” or “concentration holds” focuses on one theme of the students’ choosing that travels throughout 12 pieces of art.

Three concentration ideas, based on the student’s’ interests,  were created over the summer detailing what interested them.

The second area the students have to work on is their 24 “breadth” pieces. These show a range of abilities, concepts and techniques Noone has covered in class. The students are freely able to work with various medias from wire sculpting to fashion photography to jewelry making. The breadth pieces show the College Board the range of abilities the students have mastered over the last year.

“The breadth pieces are projects that Mrs. Noone gives that exposes us to new techniques that helps enhance our abilities throughout the whole year,” says junior Samantha Ritchie.

To prepare them for this, throughout the year Noone exposes them to unique medias to make them explore their range of creativity. Each new-media project lasts about two weeks and overlaps with another to avoid any artistic blocks.

“First I sometimes demonstrate the project or show how the materials work,” says Noone. “Then I give them their tools and requirements, and they start creating; but it’s totally independant.”

Every student has their own way to get their creativity flowing. Some have specific routines while others are inspired by the world around them.

“When I want to make a new piece, I close my eyes and imagine dozens of possible art pieces and how I would create them,” says senior Benjamin Summerhays. “I guess I get inspiration from the human mind. I have always been intrigued by psychology and how our inner emotions can display itself in our facial expression and our body language.”

Noone has encouraged the artists to aspire to create more artwork through the course and enabled her class of six to expand their comfort zone. Noone does what she can to enable her students to better themselves and it has made a noticeable difference in their lives.

Ritchie comments on the class saying, “It has allowed me to experiment and pushed me to do artwork I wouldn’t normally have done.”

While creating their portfolios, the students have used their pieces to compete in art shows at a regional and national level. “They compete in scholastic art and writing awards, the Brookfield Crafts Center, Women’s Center, and the Congressional Art Show with the chance to go to congress in a national competition and ceremony for students all over the country,” Noone says. Their artwork will even be displayed 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the annual CoDA Festival held at Broadview Middle School.

She has had some winners including Summerhays who won 1st place in 2-D design and Best in Show at the Brookfield Craft Center Art Show with his portfolio pieces this year.

This passion for art will not stop at the classroom door. The students taking the class plan to further their exploration of their artistic abilities throughout their lives.

“I want to be a fashion designer so creating clothes is all I want to do,” says Ritchie. “I wanted to learn and experiment with clothing and I thought studio art would help me do that.”

Summerhayes shares Ritchie’s goals of an artistic future, saying, “I plan on creating art my whole life whether it be photography, paintings, films or music. I can’t imagine a future for myself without art in it.”

Art has the ability to touch the lives of everyone who is fortunate enough to experience it and AP Studio Art brings that creative joy into an otherwise monotone academic experience of equations and grammar. Combining with the rigor of a college level art class, studio art is highly beneficial for students who want to further their exposure to all forms of art and expand their imagination.

“Art has allowed me to express myself,” says Ritchie. “I am able to create artwork that makes me happy.”