The Superintendent's Gallery: Central Zone Exhibition Baltimore County Public Schools | 2022 Central Zone Exhibition Grades K-12

The following piece titled, “Scarlet” was composed using a mixture of acrylic paint, charcoal, and chalk. Acrylic was the main base for most of this painting, I then chose to layer on top of the acrylic paint using the chalk and charcoal. I chose to add the chalk on top of the acrylic to help bring more depth to the piece. This piece shows a woman who is Asian and wears large glasses, messy red hair with the numbers 0-10 in the background of the artwork. This is to show how women are often rated on a scale of 1-10 based on their looks due to society's image of what makes a woman attractive.

My first stamp is an art palette and it means how much I love art/drawing. My second one is a smiley face emoji and I don't know what it means I just made it for fun.

Small Game is a sculpture about feeling consumed by the outside forces in my life. I see myself as the brook trout, being eaten by the much larger lake trout, which represents the larger challenges of school and stress that I choose to feel drowned in. I mainly fish trout which was why I chose them to represent me, and the hook through the smaller trout's head represents an accidental hooking, which is when you cast your line and happen to hook a fish. This has happened to me, and it is present in my piece to represent things out of my control and how piercing sudden changes feel.

Within this graphite piece, my sister and I are shown having a conversation in our dining room while many art supplies are scattered about on the table. I wanted to depict how I often turn to my little sister for help on the planning phase of my art assignments. Having someone there like her to suggest new ideas as well as to provide a new perspective helps me greatly in building a solid narrative in many of my artworks. Two artworks that I have previously received my sister’s help on, a painting and a drawing, are shown in the foreground of the composition. This 18” x 24” drawing was both created to express my appreciation for her assistance and to document a part of my art creation process.

This is my self-portrait. I chose blue and green because they are my favorite colors. I am wearing a mask to stay safe.

This was my 2 point perspective piece of an underwater city. I was inspired by the sunken city of Atlantis. The part I am most proud of is the underwater cracks in the earth.

Honor thy mother” is a collaborative work that was created in our high school photo studio. We were tasked to create a portrait that conveyed a message. As a group of three, all new to the process of studio portraiture, we had to work together to come up with an idea that was important to all of us. It was not long before the topic of climate change was introduced and with it, our idea to photograph “mother nature”. The shooting process began with each of us deciding our roles within the photograph. We all had experimented with differing roles during this process which consisted of many different types of images. As a result of experimenting, we were able to decide the role each of us would exhibit in our final photograph. Shari Atkins was mother nature while Hadley Sweeney fulfilled the role of being the insidious hands around the face. Finally, Caroline Fox was chosen to take the picture with the DSLR. When shooting day came, we were all excited to put these pieces together, but it did not come without challenges. On the first day, after an hour of studio time, we were disappointed to see our results weren’t like we had imagined. The lighting was dim, and the photo was blurry. Nevertheless, we persevered and came to class the next day determined to get it right. With tips from our teacher, we were able to adjust the camera so that the light was brighter, and the focus was sharper. Finally, we were relieved to see our idea coming together. In our final product, mother nature is depicted by the woman in colorful dress and bright flowers. The plastic covered hands gripping the face represents the negative impact of human activities, such as pollution on environmental health. The name, “Honor thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land God hath given thee,” is a reference from the 10 Commandments. We must all respect our mother (the earth) and in return, the time humans spend on earth will not be cut short and earth’s natural beauty will be retained.

When I was given this project, the goal was to capture images of things that are meaningful to me. I immediately knew what things I wanted to capture, such as friends, family and memories. “As a child” captures a moment with a member of my family, my niece and my friend playing together, seen through the spokes of a bicycle wheel. This was shot and edited to black and white, utilizing frame within a frame to capture the main focal point of my nephew and friend. But as a secondary focal point, the bicycle itself, where it invokes memories from childhood, riding bikes and playing around outside. Something many people can relate to. The photo aims to create a nostalgic feeling for any viewer, as they can imagine themselves to an earlier time in their life. If I was given this project again, I would definitely bring the main subject closer, to make it more visible for the viewer, so they don't have to look too hard.

In my artwork, “My Meaning of Life,” I drew objects that I value and cherish in life such as my piano, ring, sketchbook, flute, and polaroid camera. I included the camera first because I'm able to use it to capture special moments and people I care about. Next, I chose to include my flute because it allowed me to play in a band at an early age which helped me discover my love for music and playing instruments, including piano. Then, I included the ring because my mom gave it to me which was her mom’s before. This represents my love for my family and how incredibly grateful I am to have one. For the background of the ring, I drew a mother and daughter symbol to represent the relationship between me and my mother. Then, for the flute I drew a pirate ship pattern to represent the fact that I play for Loch Raven High School. Lastly, for the background of the sketchbook, I drew Copic markers to represent how when I was younger, I always wanted Copic markers to color with and now, almost all my drawings in my old sketch book are with Copic markers. In conclusion, in making my artwork, “My Meaning of Life,” I was able to learn to draw bigger and notice the things that I value are special, and I should cherish them forever.