I think of my classroom as a laboratory, and we as artists and designers, function as scientists. In my introductory courses students are given open-ended questions to answer which require independent research and experimentation to solve.  By the time students reach their capstone visual arts experience, they know how to pose a question worth solving, and know the methods for seeking answers.  Students become familiar with the process of thinking and working as artists.

In the final year of their high school careers, students develop a body of work and must function as young artists, directing their own creative path. They must answer questions such as:

·      What inspires me to make art?

·      How should I begin a new project?

·      At what point should I follow or break established traditions?

·      How have I grown as an artist over the course of the year?

BECCA GISPERT

My work explores the relationship between patterns and objects through drawing and photography. I play with repetition and scale to exaggerate and distort three dimensional spaces and forms. In my early pieces I worked on a small scale. Gradually the patterns and objects I worked with grew to a larger scale and took different forms. Eventually I worked on a human scale, as seen in the last image, in order to control the movement within patterns, and to  emphasize the relationship between the body and surrounding environment.  

In the summer of 2015, Becca Gispert was named as one of the top ten female design students in the world.  The work she developed in AP Studio Art was selected by Adobe and Colossal Media to be featured in The World's Biggest Art Show.  Her work was then installed as a mural in Brooklyn during the fall of 2015. 

SARAH FIELDS

My work explores conflicting human emotions through text and image. I use color and pattern to heighten or mute the moods of each subject and feeling. For example, the harsh grid in "How Did I End Up In This Cycle" parallel with the strictness and conformity of the office environment.

SARAH CAPPARUCCINI

My photographs capture the connections between the body and space, demonstrating the ways that each can mimic and inform the other. I utilize a variety of natural and manmade architecture in order to explore a range of compositional structures.  The positioning of the subject's body creates balance and shows movement between figure and ground. I allow the body to occupy quiet places in nature.