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Tuesday, May 3, was an exciting night for the seniors involved in Arts at Fossil Ridge High School. Ms. Lemons, an art teacher, explains, “It’s the senior showcase for AP studio art students to show off their portfolio before we send it off to the college board to be evaluated. Parents and friends can see to see all the work they’ve done this year.” The showcase is not only for art students, it also features film, culinary art, music, band, and choir students. It involves all arts in general, as Ms. Lemons put it, “to highlight our seniors who kicked butt.”
The art hall was filled with tables each dedicated to an art student’s work in AP Studio Art. The seniors stood by their tables to explain where they got inspiration and watch attendees admire their work.
Senior Courtney Johnson was grateful for her experience in art at Fossil. “The art department has been a huge part of who I’ve been because everyone’s just super accepting and it’s just a way to express yourself for who you are without judgement…I’m just excited for everyone to finally get to see what we’ve been working on and all the hard work that we’ve done, but it’s sad to say goodbye to everybody.”
Each senior had a unique approach this year, and while many of the pieces were from common assignments, each table looked significantly different. “It’s nice to see all of my work together in one group. When I look at each one individually, I just think about ‘ugh how long that took,’ but when they’re together it’s like ‘wow I actually made a lot of work this year’,” said Maria Ostapovich.
There was a large variety of mediums and one talented student, Kristine Johnson, had fashion designs that could be seen wandering around the event. “I do anything anything 3D, particularly fashion design, and I really like making formal stuff. It’s weird seeing people here in my designs. Prom was actually the first time anyone had actually worn full pieces that I’ve made,” she said.
Emma Keever was inspired by her classmates, and took a basic idea of drawing to people to entirely new heights. She drew half the face of her peers as they were in that moment, then envisioned them later in life and drew that as the other half of the face. She finds inspiration by, “just taking their personalities and reflecting that thirty to forty years from now. I’ve always loved drawing people and I didn’t want to just draw like a face I wanted to get a different idea and incorporate two ideas into it. I just thought one day ‘I’m gonna draw them old too!’”
As the AP class is geared towards preparing college art portfolios, it’s not surprising there are students who see art in their future. Kenny Cordain explained, “I’ll be starting my own business. I’m gonna try to get a website started and get an Etsy account going and then over the summer I’m going to try to go to as many art shows as I can and just hopefully build from there. I’m looking forward to doing something that I actually really enjoy and really love.”
The halls were packed with family and friends who were thrilled to see the talent the seniors possessed. “This year I’ve learned how much I love artwork and just art and I figured it’d be a great place to get some inspiration. I love looking at other people’s artwork and all this is incredible. The potential, I guess, in high school artwork, It’s really cool,” said freshman Mabry Keil. Elizabeth Bodenhamer agreed, saying, “I personally love art and it’s super interesting that there’s so much talent at Fossil and how far people can go to invest in it. The amount of talent and dedication these people have, and I think it’s really cool that like when the put it together it looks like a collective piece.”
For those who attended, Fossil students provided an array of treats to keep them eating. Junior Megan Jamison said, “I am part of the Catering two class that will be catering the event. We’ve made cocoa coffee meringue cookies, mocha cupcakes with an espresso frosting…just a bunch of different kind of sweets that people can eat.”
The entire event had a happy upbeat air around it and everyone was in a continuous state of awe over the students’ talent. The seniors went out with a bang and Fossil will never be the same.
