Every year AP art students line the walls in anticipation of their final projects being seen and presented for those to see, and some get luckier than others. Annually, two art students are chosen for their pieces to undergo submission and placed in local art museums in Fort Collins. With months of careful planning and strategy, students hope to be chosen. 

“A lot of us all begin taking time to think about our project well in advance, I wanted it to be really meaningful and stand out since it’s my last project in here, so far… I felt like it was important to make something that was authentic and creative,” says Emmy Lowery, one of the featured artists. 

Lowery explained, she chose music as the theme of her sculpture project. 

“I love music, it’s one of the most integral parts of my life and identity, I love collages and mixed media and I wanted to use that to incorporate music, and its significance in my life.” 

Although the formatting of the project is a ceramic mask, it was still important to Lowery to adamantly pursue music as the guiding theme.

 “It’s just important to me, because- hellur? Music is awesome, I love it beyond any words I can use. Music has always been my sort’ve ‘niche’ thing I have when I’m not making physical art. I love the way it makes me feel, and the enticing light that pulls you in, the different eras of music serve as huge cultural marks I feel like, the glitz and glamor surrounding rock, jazz, the blues- it’s something special.” 

As Lowery expands on the depth of music, she hoped people would understand and resonate with her piece, in some way- shape, or form.

“You see, I was one of the few 3D artists, so it was a bit more challenging. I had to dig deeper into music than I ever had before. You can say a whole lot with music that you can’t say to someone’s face. I hope when they look at it they’re able to think of their favorite song.” 

As Lowery and I discussed our favorite artists, she remarked.

 “I live and breathe music,” Lowery remarked, “It’s a way for me to cope with the good and bad in my life, and I can connect to it through my feelings to better understand myself and admire it. Like yeah, some of this stuff might suck- but this is a good song, and the lyrics paint a picture of how I feel. It helps me feel more at ease, and I can mediate bad situations with it. Music is eternal, it will always be a constant and that’s the beauty of it.”