Illustration courtesy of Aden Walsey and Skylar Chui
As April comes to a close, the inevitable signs of the end of the year are slowly appearing. Although this season is mostly known for conversations about finals and summer, for students in art teacher Sasha Vu’s Advanced Placement (AP) Art class, it signals the end of a year’s work on their art portfolios.
The AP Art portfolio is a project where students create fifteen pieces under a unifying theme over the course of a school year. They submit these works to the College Board, an organization that provides resources for high school students entering college, for feedback on their pieces.
“Some themes we have this year are ‘Dreams and Nightmares,’ ‘Emotions’ and ‘Mystical Realms,’” Vu said. “They’re all self-led, self-formulated and generally under a large umbrella.”
As opposed to most art classes at Pinewood, AP Art and the art portfolios are projects that students take on themselves with guidance from Vu rather than direct instruction.
“It’s really rewarding,” Vu said. “I love my AP students because they’re really dedicated, they’re really driven, and they’re really passionate about art, so they’re amazing to work with. It’s been such a joy to guide them throughout their [portfolios].”
For students in AP Art, their portfolio is the product of a long journey.
“I was always really into art and I’ve always been a creative person, so my art teacher in sophomore year recommended me for AP Art because she thought it was a better course for me than Studio Art 1,” junior Skylar Chui said.
Although it may seem stressful at first to have your work officially judged, Vu contends that it is vital to the artistic process.
“Nothing exists in a vacuum,” Vu said. “Art is a collaboration between the artist and the viewer, so having it seen by your artistic peers and getting feedback from them before you go out and change the world is always good.”
Though the project requires hard work and dedication, Chui has nothing but praise for the experience.
“It’s been a lot of hard work and pushing through, but it’s been really fun,” Chui said.