2012 – 2013

Ottawa Area ISD

“8TH”Samuel BoerchelZeeland East High School – Grade 11

In this image I wanted to show depth with the high contrast between the black and white, emphasized by the 3-D glasses. I like the way India ink blends with water to form swirls and bleeding areas. This image is a statement about my personality and the way people view me, I enjoy making people smile.

“FLOWERS”Jenna ChambersSaugatuck High School – Grade 10

When I drew these flowers, it was fall, and they were as dry and crisp as the weather. As a matter of fact, they were pretty much dead on the day I finished sketching them. However, it was also the best part about painting them. I mixed oil pastels together to create a summery backdrop and a myriad of yellows to color the Black-eyed Susan's themselves. Unlike the rest of the work, the foliage was in watercolor, shaded to look like the sun on leaves. The pale, gray outline was no longer there, and in its place was something new. There’s nothing like bringing the dead back to life.

“EXODIC”Kyra ChaseCoopersville High School – Grade 9

African American Elephants have always been a favorite animal of mine. Once I heard they were on the brink of extinction, I felt helpless and upset. Currently the population is 600,000 but is diminishing by 38,000 each year. The cause of their declining numbers is because many people poach for the ivory in the elephant’s tusks. Many organizations like the IFAW and CITES are calling for people to stop the support of legal ivory sales. What dragged me to the research of the African American Elephant was their charm and biodiversity.

“HEART/MATCHSTICKS”Mira HarmonHudsonville Freshman Campus – Grade 9

My picture was inspired by my love for catching the detail and setting a story behind the picture. This certain picture however was thought up to start as an accident when I was using matches for another picture I was trying to create. It wasn’t till the end, when I looked at the burning batch of matches in the small box, that I thought to draw with one match a heart, thus creating that picture that was chosen to represent my art.

“COLLAGRAPH PLATE”Abby HarrellHolland High School – Grade 11

Our project was to make a door. This door could lead anywhere. I was inspired by vintage doors, and I also incorporated a “summery” feel to it.

“REACH 4 LIFE”Zachary HendersonHudsonville High School – Grade 11

The inspiration for this project is what provided the motivation to create Reach 4 Life. As a middle schooler, I attended a church camp that had a ministry by this name. This ministry was created to end as much poverty as they could in Africa, to raise the awareness of AIDS to teenagers there, and to share the truth of God’s word to as many students and teenagers as they could. This ministry immediately gripped my heart as I thought of how fortunate I was to live in such a wealthy country and community. As I painted this piece, all of the epidemics, all the malnutrition and abused children in so many African’s have and how there’s a God watching over each and every one of them with loving care. My intent for this piece was to paint something intricate that grabs the eye’s attention with warm colors and abstract patterns, with each pattern and symbol each representing meanings that Africa has. Whenever I become stressed, whenever I feel treated unfairly, whenever I feel oppressed or unthankful for what I have, my mind turns to the starving, abused children in Africa; rags for clothes, a shack for a home, polluted water and no certainty they will have food each day. They suffer such a greater amount than I. We are blessed beyond imagination. This piece, and this little African child in the painting are a constant reminder to be thankful for what it is we have, and to be an outreach to those who have less.

“HUICHOL YARN PAINTING”Austin Hoekstra Jenison High School – Grade 10I would have never done this project if Mrs. Moynihan never told me about the project. I was just sitting in my seat thinking of what to make, when I thought of making a snake, but I wanted to make the snake look like it was wrapping around the cardboard. I chose to do a snake, because I like how sneaky they can be and I have actually seen a snake wrapped around a pole before and I thought that it was the coolest thing in the world. The teacher assignment was called a Huichol yarn panting, and everybody else’s where small and in a circle, mine was the biggest out of all her classes and it took a long time, but it was a fun project to do.

“WINTER MORNING”Elliott HusbandsBlack River – Grade 11

“TO BREAK THE SILENCE”Jared JohnsonHolland High School – Grade 9

Uniformity is something I strive against everyday. I don’t necessarily want to be normal, I just want to show that you can be a good football player, you can be one of the fastest in track, you can be a phenomenal student, and especially be a good artist. Even if you might have an underlying condition, or something of that nature. It’s what is below the surface that counts.

“LANDSCAPE 3D”Leah KostelijkBlack River – Grade 11

My painting is of a landscape in New Zealand. This is my home country. I love being out in nature and seeing all the beautiful landscapes in my country. It is painted in the impressionism style with acrylic paint on three translucent sheets to create a 3-D effect. This project was assigned by my art teacher, Miss Doyle.

“FLOWERS AND COLORS”Kali LaHaieAllendale High School – Grade 12

My goal with this piece was to create a still life piece for my portfolio. I wanted it to be something bright and cheery because I love working with bright colors, so I chose the colorful flowers and vase to match my interests.

“LEAVES OF ALL AGES”Marissa MarquesHolland High School – Grade 12My name is Marissa Maques. My work “Leaves of All Ages” was done in an independent art class that I took. When I saw this image on the internet and was instantly attracted to the bright contrasting colors. I originally started this work in oil pastels but as I started I thought it would be a lot better in watercolor, so I started over. This was the first watercolor I ever did and I was a little worried at the beginning, but pleased with how it turned out.

“SUITS”Christine MooreSaugatuck High School – Grade 10

“Suits” started out as an assignment with the simple instructions of making a print with texture or layers. While brainstorming ideas for a subject I came across a picture of a closet of suits. This picture became my inspiration. The process involved layering different materials to achieve the desired textures, then layering colors to achieve the desired look. After experimenting with many different color combinations, I tried these colors and liked the outcome. The process was long and at some points very frustrating, but in the end it was completely worth it.

“ISTANBUL”Christa MulderHolland Christian High School – Grade 12I was inspired to create this piece after looking through images of my dad’s trip to Istanbul, Turkey. This piece came from a concentration of works where I focused on recreating different kinds of architecture based on places I visited or images I found. I started out by selecting a photo to work from, and then went to sketching out the basic shapes on a raw canvas. I then began the process of layering fabric, paint, and paper to create the overall composition. Anyone who has traveled, knows that there is more to a culture than what first meets the eye. The same goes for this piece. In order to notice all the details of this piece, such as the fact that the shredded paper is actually money, one must spend time examining the piece. I made the decision to leave the edges of the canvas undone because it (along with the mismatched scraps of fabric) represents that we live in an imperfect world, and it is our job to try and make something beautiful out of it.

“DUSK IN GRAND RAPIDS”Mary MorkesWest Ottawa High School North – Grade 12For this piece, I worked from a photograph I had taken. In this photo, I experimented with silhouettes and shadows, a subject which has intrigued me for quite some time. I aimed to create a variation through texture. I chose not to cover the entire piece in tissue paper, to create depth through different layers. The composition of this photo was key: the two figures are placed off center, and the telephone pole balances the other half. Not only did I provide contrast between my light and dark colors, but between the flat black background and the tissue covered background. The focus on the two figures is mysterious, and yet hopeful, as they go toward the brightness. However, most of them are enveloped by the darkness on the bottom. This is where the mysterious mood derives from, and it puts the direct message of the pieces up for interpretation

“PUNCHED-OUT TULIP”Katelyn MulderZeeland East High School – Grade 11

The inspiration for this piece was a photo I had taken down town Holland during Tulip Time.

“BRIGHT WITH LIFE”Desirae OliverCareerLine Tech Center – Grade 11

This bird was painted with bright colors to encase life within it. Then it was decided to write out my bible study notes around to then encase life around it. The intent is for the piece to have life.

“BROOKLYN”Ana PatchinWest Ottawa High School – Grade 9

The city has always fascinated me. While brainstorming ideas for this project I came across a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge and immediately the project snapped into place. The Brooklyn Bridge and the New York City skyline represent a world of opportunity, and the colors I used symbolize the bright future that awaits some in New York. I hope one day I will be led into a bright future in a city like New York

“NEBULA”Elizabeth PierceBlack River – Grade 12

“Nebula” was my exploration of different techniques with pastel. My teacher assigned my class to make three art works in pastel of any subject. I had never worked with pastel before and was unsure on how well I would be able to control it. All three of my pastel pieces for this assignment are related and show how I kept improving and changing as I became more practiced.

I chose nebulae as my subject matter because of the bright smooth colors. The stars and outer space have been a life long source of almost magical beauty and wonderment for me. I have always enjoyed stargazing and watching any informational TV show about outer space and planets. At the time I made the artwork, the background on my laptop was a picture of a nebula, so I searched the Internet for more pictures of nebulae.

My first piece was experimental for blending colors and trying to get that sense of depth. My second was an accurate representation of the God’s Eye Nebula, and my third was based on a picture I found, but not an exact copy. With this piece I wanted to create a sense of wonder and beauty that I find in the stars. I focused on blending the pastels, especially black, to achieve a rich and velvety looking image.

“COMPLEMENTARY”Michael PierceWest Ottawa High School – Grade 11

At the beginning of the year our art teacher had told us we had to pick a concentration. I had thought hard about this, like I do everything. I finally decided that my concentration from which I would base my artwork from, would be “old to new.” My teacher told my class that our next piece would be a spray stencil. So in my spray stencil I show my old relationships in my past with the records in the background. Then I show my new relationships with the image of me and the girl I had recently started dating. All of it emphasizing that although some things end, there are always new beginnings.

“CAT IN SHADOW”Alicia PosthumaJenison High School - Grade 10

This drawing was for an independent project for my art class. I was initially going to draw my own cat, but I though a hairless car with a shirt on would be a little more interesting. My inspiration came from one of my grandparents’ cats name Rufus. People commonly think that they are hideous animal, but I think that they are the cutest things. I’ve always wanted to try and draw him, but I’ve just never had the time to. I didn’t really go through much of a thought process, but I’m proud of the way it turned out.

“FLOWER/PASTEL ON BLACK BACKGROUNDCrystal ReyesGrand Haven High School – Grade 10

“BOTTLES”Anne SchwendingerJenison High School – Grade 11

This picture was an assignment from my painting class. We had to draw a still life with some bottles; our focus should be on the reflection. For the background we had to add some movement, that’s why I added the swirls. I think this makes the picture more interesting. My problem was the blending of the colors. I like when the colors are blended into each other and I can’t see a clear line between two different colors. This was very hard with oil pastel, because they are hard to blend. I spend a lot of time with trying to blend the colors. The white reflection on the bottles is not blended; there I actually wanted to see a difference to get the effect of a reflection.

“THE WORKING MAN”Stacy SkekloffWest Ottawa High School – Grade 12From the very beginning of my high school career I have been involved in various art courses at West Ottawa. I am grateful that I was able to establish my foundation early my freshman year, on which I have been building ever since in the current international Baccalaureate Program. IB Art has given me confidence to articulate clearly my thoughts and opinions. Through these past two years I have definitely gained a world perspective that is prevalent throughout my work. Many of my works have evolved from shallow subject matters to complex world issues. These issues are addressed in a way that makes the viewer reflect on the subject matter while maintaining the beauty that is present in the art. IB has taught me how to develop my own ideas and convey them in unexpected ways. My process of working as an artist has also transformed into a professional way of thinking beginning with sources of inspiration, followed by research and finished with precise construction. This particular piece, titles the working man, embodies every person that has had to struggle to pursue their goals. I utilized a technique where I reused old paper towel and shaped it in different ways to create volume and depth. I then used different materials to solidify the paper towel and used paint and paper to showcase different drawings on top of the texture. This piece demanded me to take risks, and I am very proud of the outcome. Next year I will be attending the University of Michigan Ann Arbor at the school of Art and Design. I will take all of the valuable skills I have acquired with me next year as I pursue my goal of becoming an industrial designer.

“STILL LIFE OF A DRAPERY”Alexis UmlorAllendale High School – Grade 9

I created this piece of work because it was a class assignment. The idea of the assignment was learning to work with value. One of the problems I faced while working on this project was having enough contrast so people could easily see the different parts of the drapery. While working on this project, I was focusing on making the piece look realistic through accuracy of the shadows and using a wide range of shades.

“THE RABBIT”Jake Vander laan

Grand Haven High School

“COLOR FIELD”Sierra VantilCoopersville High School – Grade 12

It had been awhile since anybody had said to me “just doodle,” however, that’s exactly what this assignment was about. The class was learning about Zen doodles, which became our inspiration. We were given a blank piece of paper, a black Sharpie, and free time to just let our minds run free. “Color Field” is what became of this. We had also been focusing on atmospheric perspective, colors that are in the distance appear duller. I added water color to achieve this concept and to add a little of my personality to the piece. I am proud to say that this entire piece came directly from my day-dreaming mind and was all done with my free hand.

“4B”Brooke Wolters

Holland Christian – Grade 12My teacher’s prompt for this painting was “Rhythm and Repetition.” I’ve always been intrigued by window’s, they can be open or closed or covered or boarded up and they’re constantly repeated. In an apartment building especially, a different story is told behind each of those windows. And not one story is a repeat of another; each window, whether the curtains are drawn or undrawn, is a reflection of those stories. All the lights are OFF in my painting, except in apartment 4B, where the pattern is drawn or undrawn is broken by light. Even through our individual stories drastically differ from one another; I believe humanity is the most receptive thing to hit earth. The majority of us get stuck in the same routine every day, even every year, repeating the same words and the same mistakes. Sometimes the only way for us to get out of this routine is to turn our light on and think..

“UNTITLED”Megan YasickGrand Haven High School – Grade 12

The picture that inspired this painting moved me. When I saw the woman I was struck by the immense sorrow she projected. She looked so haunted, intense, and desperate. I looked at her and saw raw emotion. When people look at this piece that’s what I want them to see and feel - EMOTION.