Art has become valuable for teachers and students to express and communicate feelings.
“Art is important because art is everywhere. People create art to communicate their feelings, their emotions, for marketing purposes, or for self expression. It’s immersed in our everyday lives, and people don’t even notice it. It’s the knobs in your car, it’s the shoes that we wear. It’s more than just paintings that hang above your couch,” art teacher Angela Hays said.
Many people also value art as a form of self expression.
“I think art is important because it’s one of the most visual ways of self expression. There are many people who can’t talk about how they feel, but when they put it into something visual, paint it out, draw it out, sculpt it out, it can become something very intricate and beautiful,” junior Sarah Fernandez said.
While each project has value, numerous students have a favorite piece of art that they have done.
“There was this colored pencil portrait that I did freshman year. I was really proud of that, because she [Ms. Crib] displayed it in the hallway,” senior Amia Lovelace said.
Other students, such as Fernandez, have a favorite work by another artist.
“In the Kemper Museum, in the atrium, they have this painting called ‘Hombre’ by Lucia Vidales. It’s on a huge wall, there’s charcoal around it, it’s comprised of four paintings, and it is to represent The Last Supper, but how Latinos would have their take on Thanksgiving. It’s a very unique perspective of community and gatherings. There is so much color and vibrancy. With the charcoal, there’s resin that represents the work ethic and how immigrants work in the United States. It’s a really unique interpretation of merging all these ideas together, of hard work and family,” Fernandez said.
One student has had the influence of art in her life for many years.
“I started doing art when I was really young. My older sister actually used to inspire me a lot, because she did a bunch of art classes in school, and she would bring these massive projects home and start working on them,” junior Laila Johnston said.
Working on art is one way that Johnston and her family spend time together.
“Being able to see her do art from middle school to college was so much fun for me. She used to let me help out on a lot of her projects. I let my little brother help out on mine too, kind of passing the torch, in a way. It’s so much fun, Johnston said.
Art projects can create valuable memories and connection.
“When she was in high school, they brought this massive paper home, and she had to paint the whole thing with Q-tips. We had to sit the whole day and use Q-tips to paint it. She let me help out on some of the smaller, less detailed areas, but it was still a lot of fun. That was one of the main core memories I have with helping her with her art,” Johnston said.
While Johnston has fun memories creating art, she resonates with Montet’s art specifically.
“I resonate with Monet’s art so much because my little brother has a cataract, so his vision was going. That’s why his water lilies started getting less and less detailed as he painted. I used him as an artist of inspiration in so many of my pieces. Hearing the stories about why he painted stuff and how he saw the world is one of my favorite things ever. A cataract has something to do with the lens in your eye not working properly. My little brother is legally blind in his left eye because of the cataract. He had to get surgery on it. Monet did not get surgery on his cataract, so his vision kept deteriorating over time,” Johnston said.
Monet’s art style has also been an inspiration for Johnston.
“He developed, in a way, the style of impressionism, which I like to use in a lot of my art. I consider myself an impressionist, because it’s using shapes to dictate what you’re showing. Monet’s water lilies don’t look like lilies. They look like circles, but when you step back, you can tell what he was looking at,” Johnston said.
Whether it is acknowledging part of the Latino experience, or creating memories with family, art has the ability to create a difference in people’s lives.
