Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy
Visual Arts
Samantha Godinez '20
Memory is subjective. One alters their memory of people and events because of mood, subsequent events, new perspectives, and faulty recollection. Much like Toni Morrison’s concept of rememory, I decided to re-remember my relationship with women who shaped my identity. To capture their likeness, I used alcohol-based markers, color pencils, and paint on paper. I took from renaissance sculptures and paintings to re-remember the essence of those works, and use them to convey the past. My memory lives in these works, and at the same time, they embody my present commentary and sentiment on the women that impacted me.
Aili Lin '20
Paintbrushes and oil paint allow me to produce concrete images from abstract ideas. During the process of artmaking, color and light are symbols for my thoughts and emotions. My work takes a critical perspective on social and personal issues, it demonstrates conceptual maturity and breaks conventional views. From the camera to the canvas, my portraits capture the nuanced changes in gesture and facial expressions, transforming them into blocks of vibrant color. Bold color and object combinations form a surrealistic style in my work. My pieces are created with a sense of nonconformity and intuitiveness to illustrate images and aim to provide a pleasurable aesthetic experience for the viewer.
Eleanor Li '20
Painting allows me to express feelings that words cannot describe. There are only a few words for describing red, while there are thousands of red tones that can be used to visually describe red and the feeling of it. It is this unique expressive function that strengthens my determination to continue pursuing the visual arts. My work is influenced by my emotion, I like to draw things I can not put into words. My process includes a lot of sketching, I record my ideas before forgetting them and then select good ones to make into an actual piece. When I look at my artwork, I see all my intentions towards something I love.
Alice Long '20
Everyone has their own universe; mine is one I slowly and secretly build in my mind. Art is a bridge between those two worlds. Whether it be on canvas, in my sketchbook, or in Photoshop, my work aims to illustrate fictional worlds I create in my mind. My inspiration comes from a Japanese video game designer, Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of numerous gothic fantasy universes regarded by some as the best titles of the last 20 years My process begins with developing a story and setting, completing multiple sketches, and then combining those sketches into one piece that show off large scale environments and architecture. I mainly use Photoshop and other digital tools to make revisions and set up the lighting. Even though my work is based on my imagination, it is what I speculate the future of humanity will be when we are completely engulfed and distorted by endless consumption.
Janna De Vera '20
The glue connecting all of my pieces is that they are deeply personal and meaningful. This year, I challenged myself to apply the skills I’ve acquired the past three years to make art that goes below surface level expression. From fingerpainting to learning how to embroider, I found unconventional ways to make art in order to expand my artistic horizons. Concurrently, I incorporated traditional methods that focus heavily on details. Experimenting with different techniques, materials, subjects, and themes in each work, I bring something new to the table: blurring the line between 2D and 3D and using pops of color to add depth and variation. Drawing from my interest in architecture, I studied the relationship between paper and canvas, paint and canvas, audience and artwork, and people and space. Whether painting on mirrors or using wooden hoops to create a tabletop, my pieces represent a timeline of how far I’ve come as an artist.
Cate Ziegler '20
My pieces take a stance on social injustices. Most of the time, they comment on environmental issues but also address current events: the impeachment of President Trump or the Me Too Movement. I tend to work abstractly and like to work with color, both the absence and presence of it. I use a wide variety of materials, from clay to paper maché to yarn, and even trash, choosing my material meticulously in order to convey a message or invoke emotion in my viewer. When I look through my portfolio, there is not a clear tie between my pieces - no repeated styles, processes, or designs. Rather, they encompass a variety of social problems and their tie to humanity unites them.
Iza Mah y Busch '20
I am constantly learning and changing as a person and my artwork represents that turbulence. Each piece is cluttered with bright colors and high contrast between black inks and gold. One thing that remains consistent among my pieces is how the subjects are strong. They all hold their ground and stand tall against tears, emotion, and other smaller pieces in the artwork. My preferred medium, watercolor, mirrors that sentiment as well. Water can bend and move with fluidity but it is also one of the most powerful forces on the planet. Water is calming and symbolic for life but also incredibly dangerous and mysterious. I like the nuance and how watercolor functions. I draw inspiration from art around me but primarily from how I feel on a given day. I often make choices on the basis of what looks good and what looks good to me one day may not be the same for the consequent days. I draw inspiration from nature and the way light works; many of my pieces manipulate light and bend it. Although my pieces test realism and conventional color palettes because I focus on making my pieces look whimsical and pretty that in a sense my artworks are safe simultaneously.
Hailey Ramos '20
As my main passion, art is a way for me to pay homage to my other interests. At a young age, those interests were things like Nintendo games and magical girls; now, I use my artistic passion to create new universes, try new things, and communicate. Using a clean and textured art style that I have been developing for about seven years, I seek to grow in making my art more personal in content and identifiable in style. By capturing the human figure in this cartoon-like, exaggerated art style, I can more effectively express a wide array of emotions, which lends to the personal nature and intimacy of an art piece. Focusing on depicting people has helped me learn more about my own self as well. Occasionally branching out into new subjects and media helps me push my limits and in turn become more thoughtful, so that I can make more introspective and personal art. My step-by-step approach to making art, along with my focus on the human figure and developing a distinctive style, mirrors my own desire to be more in touch with my own personality and originality.
Celine Moradi '20
I like to make art because it allows me a way to make my visions come to life. My visions are inspired by experiences with my culture, sexuality, and self. These influences create a unique perspective that sets my work apart. My main mediums are photography and painting. With photography I can pause the moments I find beautiful, and capture how full of life thay are. When I paint portraits I try to capture what my subjects represent to me through my choice of medium. To me, the creation process is me facing reality while escaping from it. Art is something that has helped me express myself personally and academically, becoming a tool to aid my research in highschool and later in college.
Grace Italia '20
Jessie Chen '21
I create work based on the things I feel, think, and see. I want to be seen and connect with the world, and I want the viewer to feel my emotions, the story I am telling, or make a connection to their own life. My art practice shows my growth as a person, creator, and my process of learning, failing and reforming. My works are inspired by a variety of things: nature, movies, the news, posts, a song, a bug that is flying around, or a thought that forms before I fall asleep. Some of these things are meaningful, make no sense, or very normal. A friend of mine describes why she likes to make art in two words, “ nonconformity and intuitiveness”. I agree with this. When I look at my work, I can see my memories, myself, and others in it.
Elvira Li' 21
Alyssa Valdivia '21
My artworks express my personal experiences, cultural identity, and interests. The different mediums I work with allow me to express different emotions. Through making art and most recently through animation, I am able to find myself and share my stories with people. I hope my viewer will find something in my work that resonates with their own life. My parents have always supported me through my art journey by putting me in art classes. I was speech delayed and they thought art would be a great outlet for me to express my emotions. Art has changed from a hobby to a strong passion that drives my life and goals.
Enyi Zhou '21
Art has influenced me since I was a child, my mother would take me to exhibitions and museums. Art gives me a way to express my imagination while making something aesthetically beautiful. It also is the best way for me to record ideas and experiences. I like painting and illustration the most and have been using a lot of acrylic paint this year. Each piece is reflecting my mental state at the time I made it, some are sad and some are happier. I hope the viewer can gain a better understanding of who I am and what I have experienced by seeing my artworks.