Finding motivation to do schoolwork is hard. Finding motivation to do it over the summer is even harder. But for AP Art students, that motivation is a product of a genuine love for art and creation. The current display in the Brierley Gallery on the third floor of the Winnetka Campus showcases the best of these artists’ summer efforts.
“When students sign up for AP, we bring them in at the end of the year and give them an assignment to make sure that they’re actively creating over the summer,” AP Art teacher Mark Bowers explains. “So when they come into the course, they have work to discuss, and we can kind of hit the ground running.”
The summer work is more than a number in the gradebook, though. Bowers notes it is critical in introducing students to the course dynamic and to each other. Each student was told to bring in their best and worst summer pieces and, in a unique tradition, presented their favorite element of their worst piece and least favorite element of their best.
“It puts them on their head, which is nice, because they’re not expecting that,” Bowers says.
This culture of discussion and constructive criticism is a defining feature of Bowers’ studio. Every third piece the students create is subjected to peer critique.
“I think the critiques just help push us to become better artists and be more reflective and purposeful about the art we make,” senior and AP Art student Sophia Huang says.
Her classmate, senior Eda Memik, agrees. Critique is essential for those who have a hard time noticing flaws in their art as well as those who tend to be too critical of their own work, she says.
The students I spoke to shared a sense of pride in having their creations on display for the whole school to see.
“It feels great,” Memik says, who also expresses a healthy dose of aloofness when it comes to how others might perceive her work. “If people want to see it, that’s cool. If people don’t want to see it, that’s cool too.”
That attitude is one that Bowers strives to instill in his students.
“I think that’s also the beauty of being an artist, is you have to make a decision to step out of your studio and to put yourself out there,” he emphasizes. “And what I talk to them a lot about is, when you do that, you let go of the meaning of your work, the intention of your work, and you allow the viewer or the visitor to engage with it as they will.”
The gallery, by increasing the visibility of art students at New Trier, plays an important role in students’ development as people and artists. While athletics and performing arts traditionally receive most of the attention, Bowers says, engagement in student art is equally critical.
“In art making, it’s a very solitary process, and to give students the recognition and a platform to show their passions, their heart, their soul, their identity, it’s crucial to the growth of young artists,” Bowers tells me, emphasizing an education of “the whole child.”
The themes explored in the students’ summer work were as wide in scope as they were personal in nature. Huang draws on a recent vacation to China, incorporating Chinese characters into her sketch. Senior Elaine Cui focuses on setting, developing a forest scene. Memik, who worked in a biomedical technology lab over the summer, explores the convergence of machines and living organisms, creating a sculpture that blends the two in an imaginary creature.
“I wanted to explore a what-if scenario,” Memik explains. “What if instead of having things be made out of DNA, things came together and bam, it was a machine, a computer chip that was first made?”
As we discuss her work, Memik shows me a set of handwritten journal entries in her sketchbook, meant to complement the vividly imagined world she’s created for her character.
AP Art student Sofi Bowyer based her work off of the sci-fi game Warhammer, melding models with different 3D-printed parts to create a piece that, similar to Memik’s, is both animal and machine.
“I think it’s a really interesting form of mixed media sculpture, taking pre-existing lore and creations and parts and trying to make something new out of them,” she says.
The gallery is open for viewing anytime during the school day through the end of the month.
In line with expanding visibility of the arts, Bowers will also be showing art-themed movies during periods 4A and 4B on Anchor Days in room W415. All students are encouraged to come and are welcome to bring their lunches.
In the end, Bowers says, it is the students that drive the course forward.
“My job is really to coach and to push them along and help them find their footprint and their fingerprint, like who they are as an artist,” Bowers says.
A gallery of the students’ work can be seen below:
