While many art students proudly display their work at school and home, three of Casey Wilen’s AP Art students have recently had work accepted and displayed in the Art Connected Central Regional Exhibition. Senior Laney Weaver was awarded silver in sculpture, senior Laney Snow received an honorable mention in drawing, and senior Hudson Carney received an honorable mention in sculpture.
None of the students knew specifically what to expect from the competition when they initially entered their pieces, but they were awestruck when their works were praised and officially recognized. “I was surprised, especially when I saw the pieces that did win,” Snow said. “Those people that drew those were just so talented, and I was shocked that I was within the same skill level as them.”
Wilen explained that after receiving an email about the competition and perusing the virtual galleries from previous years, he knew that his students and their work would really shine at a competition such as this.
Each of Wilen’s students in AP Art are in the process of developing a portfolio with a specific theme chosen by the artist that they will submit for their AP test at the end of the semester, so he knew there was a high potential for recognition. The artworks honored in the competition are all from these portfolios.
Wilen shared that students performing at such a high level and receiving awards for their achievements means a lot to him personally as a teacher. He has “reconstructed things” within the art program since his arrival at U-High four years ago, and these student achievements provide validation for the art program and how it has been rebuilt. “Our students here at U-High produce good work, and they get into exhibitions, and they do win awards..not only on their individual talent, but on the strength of the program,” he said.
Hudson Carney’s artwork titled “Tria Prima” received an honorable mention in the sculpture category. His AP portfolio concept is as interesting as it is complex. “My portfolio follows the concept of converging or parallel mythologies,” Carney said. He explained that throughout mythology, religion, and historical examples, similarities can be found that tie seemingly separate thoughts together. As an example, Carney laid out that, “We see a lot of parallels between a certain figure in Egyptian mythology that also relate really well to a figure way later on in Abrahamic mythology.” The goal of his portfolio is to explain and connect these similarities throughout history. “Tria Prima” represents this intent through its representations of historical Alchemy. It is a polymer clay piece representing one of the key values of the movement, that “all elements in the world can be made up of salt and sulfur, and changing or editing that will create a more perfect whole.” The creature in his sculpture represents the central figure of that thought.Laney Snow received an honorable mention in the drawing category of the competition. The piece that she was honored for was a headshot portrait of a giraffe done in charcoal pencil. Her AP portfolio focuses specifically on capturing animal textures using black and white charcoal. “I like doing stuff in black and white, and I also really like doing animals because I like the different textures and patterns,” she explained. “ I thought I’d just put the two together for my portfolio.” Her process behind making these detailed and life-like portraits involves sketching out the basic forms, and then slowly going in layer by layer to create the accurate contrast and texture of the animals.Laney Weaver’s sculptural piece that received silver was from her portfolio on feminism. When discussing the intent and meaning behind her AP portfolio, she explained that “Feminism is really important to me and…I just wanted to make art that represented what I really care about.” The specific piece that won silver was made with the intent to challenge the artist. She had previously struggled with sculpting hands, so she spent time meticulously creating a bowl consisting solely of overlapping hands. She said that the most difficult part of her process was making sure that the proportions of every limb were both accurate and consistent. She believes that her bowl has a “more interesting quality” than the other piece that she entered, so her creativity as well as the overall concept behind her piece is what got her the silver award.
