The student body is filled with creativity, and the advanced placement (AP) art students are no exception. Seniors in AP Studio Art leave their mark on the school by painting murals that are hung in the halls for years to come. Some of these are reflections of the students’ times at the school, while others are an expression of emotions. Throughout the years, the halls have been filled over and over again with these murals; and while the school may get older, the murals will represent memories that will last a lifetime.
The passion many AP Art students have for their craft is undeniable, but for senior Charlotte Siewick, her mural is about more than painting something for her own pleasure. She hopes that through her mural she will be able to inspire future students.
“I’m hoping to create something that other Yorktown students can connect with. I really love the idea of inspiring future students with a mural that will hang on the wall for who knows how many years,” Siewick said.
The students are in the preliminary stages of their creations, and while many are still undecided on what their piece will be, others already have a clear vision. Senior Victoria Hicks, a student planning on majoring in fine arts at Parsons University, is one of these decided students. For her mural she plans to create a young man driven insane by his environment. At first this may sound curious, but Hicks hopes students will relate to her mural. She hopes to imitate the chaos that surrounds student life and the pressures the students feel.
Whether students have a set idea on their mural or not, it is certain that all of the murals will turn out well. The students have to put in hours of work for these murals, and none of it would be possible without the help of Visual Arts Department Chair and teacher Denise Phalan.
Hicks has had an especially memorable bond with her teachers.
“Ms. Phalan has even become like a second mother to me in the time I have been here,” Hicks said.
Senior Zoe Taylor has had an interest in art ever since she was a toddler, and the school’s arts department has developed that interest into a passion. With the intention of entering the arts program at Virginia Commonwealth University, Taylor’s art has become very important to her. For her mural, she intends to do some type of portrait, but she is unsure as to who it will be.
“The inspiration behind most of my pieces is from everyday life. I take the visual aspects of my normal day and contort the colors and subject matter to make the piece more visually unique,” Taylor said.
In one way or another, these students have all been greatly impacted by art in their high school career. For senior Maddie Donely, art has provided her with a form of relaxation in the chaos of high school.
“Without art, I probably would have gone insane. Art is one thing you have control over, unlike the rest of high school,” said Donely.
The students of AP Art all have a great deal of talent, something clearly reflected into their art works and murals. These murals provide students– both artists and the rest of the student body– with a sense of pleasure and inspiration as they wander the halls of the school.
