P.S. Art 2015: Student Artworks

Self-Portrait
Lola Degnan
Age 4, Prekindergarten
P.S. 118, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Jo Beth Ravitz
Oil pastel and watercolor on paper

I want people to feel happy. That's why I used these colors and lines. Making art makes me feel happy.

Teacher Comments:

This was the culminating work in a series of lessons exploring facial proportions, drawing, and painting techniques. Students were introduced to master artists' works, such as those by

Albrecht Dürer and Frida Kahlo. They brainstormed to find visual evidence in their portraits that offered clues into these artists' lives and personalities.

After closely observing their own faces in mirrors and noting how varying expressions change the lines and shapes on their faces, students chose the colors and expressions they felt were most reflective of themselves. The artists learned that a self-portrait shows not only a representation of a person, it can also visually express how a person feels.

Lola's use of brushstrokes and color truly represent her playful and exuberant personality. Her careful consideration of compositional elements invites the viewer to enter her painting and to join in the celebration of her life.

Wonder Wheel of Coney Island
Darien Zhen
Age 6, Kindergarten
P.S. 188, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Patricia Heiss
Tempera on paper

I want people to look at my painting and to want to come to Coney Island to go for a ride on the Wonder Wheel. Rides are fun to go on. I love art. I enjoy painting. Zigzag lines are my favorite lines to paint.

Teacher Comments:

Coney Island is visually rich and stimulating for artists. Students agree that the amusements and the ocean make our school community unique. What better subject for a painting project

than the famous Wonder-Wheel? Students viewed images of the Wonder-Wheel and identified the art elements of line and shape. Using black and white paint, students created a variety of values to show the different parts of the Wonder-Wheel. The painting instruction aligned with the second-grade art-making benchmark of the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts; students' artwork demonstrated personal observations about a place, control of paint medium and various brushes, an understanding of basic organization of space, and experimentation with the medium.

Darien did a fantastic job revealing a multitude of lines and shapes in an image as complex as the Wonder-Wheel. He masterfully layered his artwork starting with black shapes and lines and worked his way forward in the painting. Darien noticed the subtle changes in the structure and used different values to portray them.

Elephant
Sagdiana Kuliyeva
Age 5, Kindergarten
P.S. 199, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Elaine Greenstein
Torn-paper collage

I like to make art because you can make something good. It makes me feel happy and silly. Elephants like water!

Teacher Comments:

This piece was from a six-week collage unit. The class looked at collages by Eric Carle and Alex Katz. Students experimented with tearing shapes, overlapping, placement, and use of glue. When I saw Sagdiana's collage I could not stop smiling. It is lovely, simple, and just plain delightful. I hung it in the main office in our school soon after it was completed.

Cherry Tree
Maiya Ferrell
Age 6, Kindergarten
P.S. 396, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Mona Doon
Tempera on paper

When people look at my artwork, I want them to feel happy. I like to make art because it’s fun. I can use my imagination and be creative. I worked very hard on my tree and I love the way it came out.

Teacher Comments:

Kindergarten students learned the tale of George Washington and the cherry tree. As part of my painting unit, students were introduced to finger paints. Students looked closely at pictures of trees. We discussed the structure of a tree, and the texture and the type of lines they observed on the trunk and branches. They re-created those various lines as if they were using paintbrushes.

Maiya's painting exhibits traits of her personality. She has a quiet strength and presence. I look forward to her continuing to explore her artistic talents.

Rainbow Road
Anthea Zamir
Age 5, Kindergarten
P.S. 150, Queens
Art Teacher: Ellen Anne Wine
Tempera on paper

I tried to use a lot of colors and I want people to see a rainbow mountain. It is a curvy mountain and there is a parking lot inside a cave. I like to make art because it is fun. I really like painting the most. This project was fun because we got to listen to music when we painted.

Teacher Comments:

Students looked at a variety of works by Vasily Kandinsky to discover how he used line, shape, and color in his paintings. They painted while listening to composers who influenced Kandinsky including Arnold Schoenberg and Richard Wagner. This project gave students the opportunity to practice using a variety of brushstrokes and allowed them to freely organize their composition to reflect the music that they were listening to as they painted.

I was impressed by the variety of brushstrokes—short, long, curved, and straight—that Anthea used in her work. Her composition captured the rise and fall of the music that was playing. She did an excellent job controlling the colors of tempera cake paints and balancing the colors on the page.

Self-Portrait
Bella Vona
Age 5, Kindergarten
P.S. 65, Staten Island
Art Teacher: Frann Rizzo
Watercolor and marker on paper

Art is fun. This is a picture of me. Feel happy when you look at it.

Teacher Comments:

This was a self-portrait lesson. Students began by touching and

feeling the shape of their heads, necks, shoulders, and facial features. We discussed the sizes, shapes, and lines they felt. They used Sharpie markers to draw their portraits. Students had the opportunity to explore watercolors and experimented with layering and blending. After learning various painting techniques, children applied watercolors to their portraits.

I implement self-portraiture as one of the first art lessons of the school year. It is a great way for students to express themselves and their personalities, as well as a good way to get to know each other!

Glittery Winter
Lola Moreno
Age 6, Grade 1
P.S. 133, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Victoria Calabro
Oil pastel on paper

I want people to think that this is a beautiful and miraculous artwork. It is in winter and it is about mixing pastels. I like making art because it is fun, and makes me feel like I am at home because I make art at home. Art calms me down.

Teacher Comments:

Students began a three-week sequential oil pastel unit with the goal of extending their knowledge of drawing's compositional and design elements. They were encouraged to choose new ways of using familiar tools to experiment with line, pattern, color mixing, blending, and adding textures and details. They experimented with interesting compositions, adding patterns in the background or foreground.

Lola is an extremely mature first grader. She is participating in an after-school art program for first- through third-grade students, and she holds her own. Lola can maintain exceptional focus throughout these two-hour sessions, and always has inventive ways to problem solve while working in my class.

Wang Yu
Yu Jie Wang
Age 6, Grade 1
P.S. 124, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Gloria Truppi
Tempera on paper

I want people to smile at my artwork. I enjoy creating art, and I want everyone to look and see that I worked very hard on my painting.

Teacher Comments:

In our painting unit students created self-portraits with tempera paints. First graders learned how to mix colors and execute very large-scale self-portraits. They explored using different brushstrokes. They were able to be creative and do realistic works. In Yu Jie's self-portrait, he expressed emotion in his eyes and used an interesting palette.

Self-Portrait
John-Henry McGinnis
Age 6, Grade 1
P.S. 245, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Lauren Donner
Oil pastel on paper

Art is fun to do and in art class I feel that I can create anything. You need to work hard in oil pastels and my picture shows that hard work.

Teacher Comments:

Students viewed the portraits of several Fauve artists including Henri Matisse, André Derain, and Alexej von Jawlensky. They discussed how the artists used color and line to show facial

features, including the highlights and recesses of the face. They discussed how the background enhanced the portraits. Students learned the basics of facial proportion and ways of drawing facial features.

Oil pastels were used to build up layers of colors, and students blended them using either lighter shades of colors or white. White or black oil pastels were used to outline or to emphasize various facial features.

Jackson Pollock said, "I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own." John-Henry was fearless and he never thought that adding or removing oil pastels would ruin his artwork. Here, I believe he shows himself as a strong adult.

My Beautiful Flowers
Lilybeth Jimenez
Age 6, Grade 1
P.S. 145, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Carrie Adams
Tempera on paper

I like to make art because sometimes I give the artwork to my family, and they put it up in our home. I did a lot of hard work on this painting, and my arm got very tired while I was making it.

Teacher Comments:

Before they began painting, students explored color mixing, secondary colors, and tints. They planned the scale of their artwork by drawing flowers from observation and looking at several paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe for inspiration.

Lilybeth loves coming to art class and is always very absorbed when creating her artwork. As she was working, I could see her following my advice to really focus on the subject more than the artwork when painting from observation. It is remarkable how much her artwork looks like the flowers we observed. Lilybeth was able to add her own personal touch with her unique color choices.

Tiger
Ryan Bivens
Age 6, Grade 1
P.S. 134, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Yayoi Asoma
Oil pastel on paper

The tiger is my favorite animal. When people look at my drawing, I want them to smile and feel good. I used a lot of bright colors. I really liked mixing a lot of colors together. The oil pastels felt soft on the paper.

Teacher Comments:

First-grade artists made oil pastel drawings of animals in their habitats. They used math shapes to make pictures of the animal. They layered, mixed, and blended colors to make many beautiful and new colors. Ryan carefully studied the shapes of the tiger before beginning his drawing. He loved the oil pastels and became absorbed in the joy of mixing many different colors together.

The Prairie
Benjamin Huang
Age 6, Grade 1
P.S. 165, Queens
Art Teacher: Madeleine Hope Arthurs
Cut-paper collage

I have ideas in my mind and I want to make artwork with what is in my imagination. I want people to feel that they are in the big prairie with lots of space and a few trees. This is the prairie in North America. Lewis and Clark explored the prairie where there were bison, prairie dogs, coyotes, and wolves. There are also poisonous snakes, and large and small birds. My collage has a coyote sneaking up behind a tough bison roaming across the prairie. There is also a small, cute prairie dog peeking up out of a hole. There are three birds flying in the sky. One is a prairie falcon, a buffalo bird, and a loggerhead shrike. Also, there are three oases to keep my animals alive.

Teacher Comments:

Before the first graders worked on collage animals in the art room, they studied animal habitats in science and took a class trip to the zoo. The collage unit started with tearing black and white paper and ended with students making collages of their favorite animals. We looked at and discussed Eric Carle's animal illustrations. The children learned placement of shapes, tearing techniques, layering, and composition. They thought about what details would enhance their compositions, and what colors would evoke a sense of place. The first graders wrote reflections about their collages when they displayed their artwork.

Benjamin works hard on all his art projects. He is bright and talented.

The Courageous Lion
Leah Acosta
Age 6, Grade 1
P.S. 35, Queens
Art Teacher: Silvia Huggler
Cut-paper collage

Art allows me to use my imagination. In art I really feel free to show my creativity. Maybe I can even inspire the viewer. I chose to make The Courageous Lion because I am a big fan of The Wizard of Oz. I love the character of the lion. It took a long time to make my collage, and I carefully planned everything. I did a lot of work—I made paper by rolling a crayon and painting over it. I tore and cut shapes, and then I arranged them all.

Teacher Comments:

This work is the product of an interdisciplinary unit. In their language arts class the students completed an author study. In science they researched animals of their choosing, and in art class the students created collages of those animals, inspired by the illustrations by their favorite authors. The goal of the unit was to make connections between various disciplines, while creating collages that demonstrated attention to texture, detail, composition, fore- and background relationships, and layering and placement of torn and cut shapes.

Leah is a motivated student who is not afraid of taking risks and experimenting with art materials. Without copying his work, Leah was able to create a work of art inspired by the illustrations of Eric Carle.

Untitled
Johnathan Rivera
Age 7, Grade 1
P.S. 188 @ 24, Bronx
Art Teacher: Rayanon Smith
Stamped print

I had fun creating prints. I like to make art because it makes me feel happy, and I want others to feel happy when they see my work.

Teacher Comments:

Johnathan's artwork is a final piece from a printmaking unit. Students learned to identify different shapes, colors, and textures. They learned basic stamping techniques. By adding different layers of shapes and colors, they created interesting final prints. First, they used brayers and bubble wrap to print their background layers. Then, Lego blocks and everyday objects were used to create different printed shapes.

I was delighted at Johnathan's level of engagement in this unit. He was so interested in printmaking that he made several fascinating prints. I feel he found his creative voice through this medium.

My Imaginary Town
Ercole Nanni
Age 7, Grade 2
P.S. 132, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Carla Beaury
Watercolor and marker on paper

Making art for me is like having an extraordinary place where I can fit in. When people see my artwork I want them to feel the peace and quietness of my town and to make their own imaginary towns.

Teacher Comments:

This work is from a six-week painting unit. Students extended their study of cityscapes by learning about foreground, middle ground, and background and learning watercolor techniques. This lesson links to the second-grade social studies unit on the boroughs of New York City. We looked at photographs of our neighborhood and paintings of New York City. The unit addressed the performance indicators for painting in the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts. Students made personal observations of a place, learned to control the medium of paint, and experimented with spatial composition.

Ercole's use of a variety of buildings was very appealing. His painting does possess an imaginary feeling.

Self-Portrait in Silver
Gabriela Diaz
Age 8, Grade 2
Brooklyn Arbor Elementary School, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Laurie Marcus
Collograph print

It took me a long time to do this. Notice how I made the necklace with little circles cut out of metal paper and glued on. I used paper with lumps to make the eyelashes. It was sort of hard to make the mouth—I wanted to make it even. It was a surprise when I took off the black paper, after printing it, and saw how it turned out.

Teacher Comments:

I combined a self-portrait unit and a printing unit so second graders could experience self-portraiture in a new way. Students drew full self-portraits on oak tag poster board. They cut out the faces and glued them onto cardboard, creating a printing plate. Onto this base, they built their features using pieces of oak tag and textural materials.

Gabriela's work shows extraordinary creativity with materials. Her choice of "paper with lumps" (corrugated cardboard) for eyelashes demonstrates this, as does her orientation of a netlike, gridded fabric to represent her hair. It is clear how each material elicited a thought. As she worked, Gabriela radiated a purposeful joy as new ideas formed and transformed her work.

Portrait
Matthew Smith
Age 10, Grade 2
P.S. 249, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Yaffa Rasowsky
Oil pastel and crayon on paper

There is always a time for laughing. Like when you're at lunch and someone tells a joke, you can laugh. And there is always an expression you can make when you're laughing, like I did in my portrait.

Mostly, I was born with art. It's a part of my life. I usually make stuff every day. If I have nothing to do at home, I just make stuff. I just do what I do. It always comes to me. I want people to know that I want to be the King of Art-ism. This is a portrait of the king.

Any place can be a place to do art. I want people to get up, grab a pencil, and start making art.

Teacher Comments:

Students used close observation to make expressive portraits. The young artists' work reflected the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts benchmarks and indicators for second grade. They created drawings that demonstrate experimentation with drawing tools, including pencil, crayon, and oil pastel. They used varied lines and colors to convey expression and personality through portraiture. They identified art vocabulary, studied the works of several portrait artists, and shared personal choices and feedback with peers.

Matthew is a special education student in a self-contained classroom. He is an incredibly dynamic artist with busy hands and many ideas. His creativity and high energy are assets in the art studio where his artwork comes alive through his expression of line, color, and movement. This young artist's work is a direct reflection of his personality. His extraordinary gifts are to be celebrated!

Junny's Birthday
Junny Ke
Age 7, Grade 2
School for Discovery and Exploration, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Ellen Izzo
India ink on paper

I used the ink well. I used thin lines to draw the city, fat lines for my hair, and I used a little bit for my eyes. I used the ink to paint my crown. I used drybrush and I worked carefully to make my artwork nice. I liked using drybrush for my shirt, my hair, and the city.

Teacher Comments:

Students studied their community and neighborhood. Using

mirrors for reference, they drew self-portraits in pencil. They continued with India ink. It is the perfect medium to practice brush control. It has become my precursor to their using paint.

Students were asked to represent themselves as community members. Expression and viewpoint were important. Junny's work shows herself stepping out into the neighborhood for her birthday. It was quite different from the work of the other students.

Our previous project was a community map drawing of the walk from home to school, which emphasized the importance of using a variety of lines. It was especially rewarding to see Junny transfer what she learned, as she worked with the new medium of India ink. I think her drybrush is superb!

My Neighborhood
Yayu Huang
Age 7, Grade 2
P.S. 101, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Cynthia Russo
Watercolor and marker on paper

When I make art I'm in my own world of imagination. It took me a long time to finish my art project, and I tried my best to make the buildings, trees, and sky look real.

Teacher Comments:

This unit was based on a social studies unit that focused on rural, suburban, and urban communities. Coney Island, a watercolor by John Wenger, was shown to the children and they discussed its shape, color, organization of space, and detail. This is a familiar location for our second graders, and they were very impressed with the imagery and details. Students then created observational drawings of the landscape from our classroom windows. They focused on organization of space, background and foreground, geometric and free-form shapes, texture, and experimentation with color blending. Yayu worked diligently on the sizes and shapes of the buildings. I am very proud of the way she concentrated on her work from the beginning to the completion of the project.

Building Liberty
Matthew Wong
Age 7, Grade 2
P.S. 312, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Jennifer Skopp
Tempera and oil pastel on paper

I like to make art because you can make basically anything, such as circles, lines, robots, and lots more. Sometimes I make artwork that is happy or sad. My artwork can be excellent and sometimes not so good. Artwork can be hard when I don't know what to draw. I can’t always focus when I’m having trouble drawing a difficult thing.

Teacher Comments:

The drawing unit was inspired by this past summer's sculpture exhibits by Danh Vo, displayed in City Hall Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park. I photographed these sculptures and displayed them in a PowerPoint presentation. I added different artists' interpretations of the Statue of Liberty. These included a poster published by Currier & Ives and paintings by Malcah Zeldis and Roy Lichtenstein. The second graders compared and contrasted these artworks. The Statue of Liberty by Mary Firestone was read to the children.

The goal was for students to create their personal views of the Statue of Liberty. They explored painting different kinds of lines and using oil pastels. Matthew was interested in how the statue was constructed from many pieces and came up with the clever idea of showing construction workers setting the head on the neck.

Landscape with Movement
Lila Jassen
Age 7, Grade 2
P.S. 41, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Toni Serratelli
Watercolor pencil, watercolor pastel, and tempera on paper

I like to create other worlds and I worked really hard on my artwork. I want people to feel excited and happy and emotional, but not sad, when they see Landscape with Movement.

Teacher Comments:

How do the length of our lines and brush marks affect the sense

of movement in a composition? To answer this question, second graders looked at the many landscape paintings and drawings of Vincent van Gogh and his application of paint in short, energetic brushstrokes rather than broad areas of flat color. Children experimented with blending and layering watercolor pencils and watercolor oil pastels, and finally added tempera paint to create their own imaginary landscapes.

I have been working with Lila in the art room since she came to P.S. 41 two years ago. She is consistently focused and engaged, and her confidence has blossomed during that time. I want to continue to help Lila find her personal voice and be able to grow and express herself through her artwork.

The Peaceful Flamingo
Sandra Liu
Age 7, Grade 2
P.S. 206, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Cathy Ramey
Oil pastel on paper

I used colors that I thought were peaceful. I want people to think and feel that they are in a peaceful place. It's fun to make art because you can make any kind of art you want, and no one can judge you or tell you what you have to draw.

Teacher Comments:

This animal collage was the culminating work for a second-grade unit on drawing. The students considered how artists create emotion in their work through their use of color and line. They compared and contrasted the work of artists including Willem de Kooning and Jasper Johns. They practiced creating opposite effects such as peaceful and angry, silly and serious, and relaxed and energetic. Then they applied these ideas to animal drawings. They were inspired by images of animals in art from India, China, and South America. Sandra's composition is especially strong. Her bird perches at an angle on a rock in a peaceful swirl of color.

To the Park
Alessa Angel
Age 8, Grade 2
P.S. 28, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Sheeri Novick
Ebony pencil on paper

I always loved looking at the pictures my older sister Vidianny made. She would bring them home and we would look at them and smile a real lot. I like to draw and make art, and I love my own pictures. I made a car and a bus that were on their way to the park. I love going to the park because my grandmother takes me there. I want people to look at my picture and imagine their grandmothers are taking them "to the park."

Teacher Comments:

Second-grade artists explored line as an element of art. We discussed the expressive use of line and the importance of this element. Students studied drawings by Vincent van Gogh and realized that artists use a variety of lines to create interesting artwork. The students' task was to focus on their use of line as they created graphite pencil drawings.

Alessa is an English-language learner who comes to art class to work and create. It is always a pleasure watching her develop her artwork. Alessa's picture is a wonderful example of repetitive lines creating movement.

The Busy City
Emanuel Vasquez
Age 7, Grade 2
P.S. 19, Staten Island
Art Teacher: Linda Gerecitano
Watercolor and marker on paper

I want everybody to know that I can be artistic. I want viewers to see New York City when they look at my artwork. I put water where the ferry is. I also put a plane and a police helicopter. These are all things in my city. Did you know that I can see this bridge from my classroom window?

Teacher Comments:

Our second-grade students were learning about urban and rural

communities. This was a perfect opportunity to extend their classroom learning by creating cityscapes. We looked at several photos and paintings of big cities and discussed types of buildings, structures, and modes of transportation. Emanuel was proud and eager to share his knowledge.

Students used their observational skills and created a sense of depth using overlapping shapes. They were encouraged to explore the unique qualities of watercolors by using warm colors for the city and cool colors for the added images. The expressive use of color, line, and shape as well as an interesting composition brought Emanuel's city to life. He is a very serious artist with a unique vision of the world. This artwork had a very special connection for him. With a perfect view of the Bayonne Bridge from his classroom window, he was eager to include it in his cityscape.

Late for the Wedding
Angel Camilo
Age 8, Grade 2
Grant Avenue Elementary School, Bronx
Art Teacher: Leslie Concannon
Cut-paper collage

I want my artwork to remind people to be on time. It's hard when you are late and have to rush. This is a good rush because I am rushing for something important. I'm always drawing. It's fun. I draw because it reminds me of my favorite things.

Teacher Comments:

For our collage unit, the class was working on figures that show action. We acted out and discussed where the body bends. Before the students glued the paper clothes we looked at Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. We noticed the way clothes can tell us something about a character. The students practiced cutting shapes before they found the ones they wanted for an outfit.

Angel worked with the whole page. He consciously placed the figure at the edge to illustrate rushing. He used the small red shapes to show motion. The work also communicates the joy of a wedding. Angel's figure is clearly a member of the wedding. With ease Angel used a visual language to tell his story. His use of color is striking. In the class reflection, Angel discussed his treatment of the subject, composition, and mood of his collage. I was impressed with the unique quality of Angel's image and narrative.

Self-Portrait
Kayla Nanan
Age 8, Grade 3
P.S. 1, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Paul Zeichner
Graphite on paper

It was a sunny day when I drew this, and I wanted to be creative with my artwork. I like to make art because my pencil goes where it takes me into my imagination. I am happy because this is my first museum exhibition.

Teacher Comments:

This drawing was part of a third-grade unit that focused on portraits. Before drawing from life, students learned about the structure and proportions of the human head. Then, they applied that knowledge to an observed self-portrait. They looked at a variety of self-portraits by several artists including Rembrandt van Rijn, Albrecht Dürer, Frida Kahlo, and Pablo Picasso.

Kayla did an exceptional job of drawing from observation. She was sensitive to subtleties such as the asymmetrical structure of the eyes and overlapping forms of the nose. She was able to successfully synthesize the principles she had learned with her own observations.

Houses on a Mountain in Brazil
Sonia Dong
Selina Lian
Age 9, Grade 3
P.S. 69, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Angela Fremont
Cut-paper collage and watercolor on paper

Sonia: I can imagine a beautiful mountain and sky. Nature is wonderful. Selina and I made beautiful things. It was a lot of fun.

Selina: The people in the mountains have fresh air. It's not really cold and not really hot. It's like springtime. There is fresh air, and so many trees in Brazil. Sonia and I worked faster and better by working together.

Teacher Comments:

We initiated the collage unit based on the students' responses to literature that examined shelters around the world. Making that important connection in the classroom spilled over into the art studio where the students made larger collage versions. They extended their knowledge of the medium and created dynamic and very personal visions of housing in Brazil.

Sonia and Selina worked together so beautifully, cutting the shapes, exploring the textures of the trees, and solving the complicated compositional problem of houses climbing up a hill.

Portrait of My Friend
Jayla White
Age 9, Grade 3
P352X @ 134, Bronx
Art Teacher: Mary McGaw
Tempera and marker on paper

I want people to feel happy when they look at my artwork because that's how I felt when I made it. I am an artist and I love making beautiful artwork for people to enjoy. I like sharing my ideas with others.

Teacher Comments:

The lesson that elicited Jayla's work was part of a unit of sequential lessons in which students explored the genre of portrait painting. To provide sources for reference and inspiration, students were introduced to well-known works of art from the online collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the New-York Historical Society. Students demonstrated their understanding of visual arts vocabulary as they discussed their portraits, using the language of the elements of art. Jayla experimented with composition, color mixing, and the use of lines and shapes. She has shown tremendous growth this year.

Fall Tree
Andy Huang
Age 9, Grade 4
P.S. 124, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Rebecca Riley
Oil pastel on paper

I like to make art because I love to get working. I put a lot of feeling into my artwork. Viewers should know that my artwork is not just a tree in a background. The art came from my heart. When people look at my artwork I want them to feel happy, hopeful, and safe. I want them to feel as if they are inside the picture.

Teacher Comments:

Students observed the trees in the school yard, read Thomas Locker's Sky Tree: Seeing Science Through Art, and analyzed Piet Mondrian's tree paintings and the Starn Brothers' mural See It Split, See It Change in the South Ferry subway station. Students noted the proportion, colors, and movement of trees and branches. They noticed that artists work in different ways—as illustrators, scientists, muralists, and fine artists. They practiced mixing oil pastels to formulate colors for tree bark and sky. Students wrote letters to one another using art vocabulary to reflect on their finished work. Andy's craftsmanship, inventive colors, and the inclusion of the tree roots make this an exemplary work of art.

Untitled
Patrick Zapala
Age 9, Grade 4
P.S./I.S. 49, Queens
Art Teacher: Katherine Huala
Hand-painted paper collage

I am passionate about making art. When I make art I concentrate really hard and keep focused. In art class I feel like I am in a different world. Because of my art teacher, I love art. I want to grow as an artist and learn new techniques.

Teacher Comments:

Patrick's collage is a final work from a fourth-grade collage unit of study. The artists spent several weeks making hand-painted

paper in a variety of colors and textures. They explored cutting from observation by closely examining shapes and their edges. We discussed how overlapping creates a sense of depth in an image. Finally, we considered how positive and negative space is used by an artist to create an interesting overall composition.

Patrick's collage is filled with subtlety and nuance. This can be seen in the way he combined geometric, organic, and imaginary shapes. The small vase of red-orange rectangular stems creates a fantastic counterpoint to the larger vessel filled with wildly intermingling plants and flowers. Along with his imaginative capacity and visual sensibility is Patrick's fine work ethic. He is the first to get to work and the last to clean up. When Patrick is engaged in a piece, you can see how he is transformed through the process of art making.

Crane
Heli Patel
Age 9, Grade 4
P.S. 877, Queens
Art Teacher: Kathleen Izzo
Oil pastel on cardboard

Kids have strong imaginations and are capable of doing anything that they desire. I want people to enjoy the work that I created. Creativity is endless. Art is everywhere and I like to express what I see in my environment. I want others to know that making art is an awesome thing to do and it teaches you about a lot of things in life.

Teacher Comments:

Students were shown many works by well-known artists. They became familiar with various art mediums, styles, and color techniques. After several lessons based on color theory, students were ready to explore the art of patternmaking and textures. The goal of this unit was to teach students to see realistic objects as shapes and patterns, and to learn how to work with oil pastels. Heli is a very diligent worker. She has a love for making art.

Self-Portrait
Natalie Soler
Age 10, Grade 4
P.S. 22, Queens
Art Teacher: Vivian Choi
Ebony pencil and Prismacolor Art Stix on paper

In this self-portrait, I want to show not just the way I am now, but also what I think I will look like in the future. Art is one of the few subjects where I can do what I want. I feel I can let my creativity run down onto the paper. My self-portrait took a long time to finish. For each class, I drew one facial feature. It required a lot of attention to detail. I wore the same clothes, jewelry, and hairstyle every time I had art so I could continue where I left off.

Teacher Comments:

This self-portrait unit focused on close observational drawing. Using mirrors, students were asked to consider proportion, placement, and shading. Through many sessions of close visual analysis, students determined the shapes and lines necessary to render themselves as realistically as possible. They observed how light reflected off of their eyes, noses, and other protruding areas. Natalie's work demonstrates her ability to make keen observations, and a fundamental understanding of anatomy and drawing. Her work is delicate in parts, but as a whole, it is strong and interesting much like her personality.

Flight of the Dragonfly
Ruby Penafiel
Age 9, Grade 4
P.S. 254, Queens
Art Teacher: Aleksandar Popovic
Watercolor on paper

I want viewers to feel like they are in the picture and that they are that plant or that creature in the painting. My art is something I enjoy doing and I work hard to make it look good. I also like to make art because if I am sad, art makes me feel better.

Teacher Comments:

Students learned about the rain forest ecosystem through two books, Rain Forest Food Chains and The Great Kapok Tree:

A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. It was part of a watercolor unit designed to build on students' previous knowledge of the watercolor painting process and to introduce them to new painting techniques.

Students learned how to use different shades of the same color, mix colors, and get a variation of tints. They also used their knowledge about the loss of animal habitats, endangered species, and the risk that human activities pose to the tropical rain forests.

Ruby gave a lot of life and movement to her dragonfly and plants with carefully detailed lines. She used very pale layers of watercolor paint, which contributed to the overall impression of lightness in the air.

Expressive Head
Otis Jacobson
Age 10, Grade 5
P.S. 38, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Anne Polashenski
Self-hardening clay and acrylic paint

I like to make artwork because it gives me joy and allows me to express my feelings. When people look at my artwork, I hope they see a vivid image of the dazed emotion of my figure. I put a lot of work into Expressive Head.

Teacher Comments:

This project was inspired by the sculpture of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt. Students explored human facial expressions and created portrait busts. They learned how facial expressions change the shapes of facial features. The bronze-painted clay bust that Otis created shows outstanding observation of detail and personal expression. His understanding of proportion and control of the medium is excellent.

My Formal Living Room in Perspective
Fabiha Anjum
Age 10, Grade 4
P.S. 214, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Nathaniel Solomon
Pen and marker on paper

I have been interested in art for my whole life. I want to be an interior designer when I grow up. I love designs, drawing, and writing in my journal. My love for art grows stronger as I get

older. I also love to doodle. I have a dream to build my own perfect house. I started sketching my own furniture. I was very focused and interested in this project.

Teacher Comments:

The students were shown pictures of various designer rooms. We discussed some of the things we find in our favorite rooms. They were given instruction in one-point perspective.

Who?
Sharon Yang
Age 10, Grade 5
P.S. 160, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Janet Penello
Tempera on paper

Art is my favorite subject. It lets me see new things that other people can't see, such as a yellow cow! People can't really see a yellow cow, but when I am drawing or painting I can imagine it in my head and then create it. I loved mixing colors and spent a lot of time doing that. I put a lot of effort in my artwork to make the texture on the tree and the feathers on the owl.

Teacher Comments:

We discussed birds' shapes, sizes, and colors. We talked about different types of feathers and what brushes and brushstrokes the students could use to create them. Students looked through photographs of birds and selected one they would like to paint. Students experimented to get the effects they desired. They were encouraged to mix many different colors, tints, and shades for each section of the bird. This helped create volume and texture in their paintings.

Sharon mixed a variety of colors in her painting. She also used many different brushes and was able to create several different textures on the bird and tree. Sharon is an amazing artist, who never gives up. She spent time mixing colors and selecting brushes to get just the right effect.

Friendship
Angelica Kwan
Judy Zang
Age 10, Grade 5
P.S. 200, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Caroline Heffron
Collograph print

Angelica: I want people to understand the emotions that make the print interesting like surprise and happiness, and I want them to think about the materials I used. I like printmaking because you have many choices and can use different colors for the prints. It took a lot of practice and hard work to make a portrait and that was only the first step. Many steps, materials, and tools are needed to make a print.

Judy: I want the viewer to feel the expression in the print. I get inspired when I look at other artwork. Inspiration makes me want to draw and drawing gives me a place to express my emotions. There are a lot of colors that can make a print interesting. It was

fun to work with a friend to come up with new ideas about color and emotion, and to help with all the hard work.

Teacher Comments:

Students were working on drawing and prints of portraits showing emotion. After mastering basic proportions, placement, and shapes of their faces they added emotion through hand gestures, eye position, and mouth shapes. After printing their own plates, students were invited to find a friend who had a facial expression that would complement their own. They experimented with colors, line, placement, and balance to create a narrative about friendship. Angelica and Judy practiced drawing their faces, and then worked on proportion. They printed their individual prints effectively using color combinations of paper and ink to enhance the mood of their artwork. After succeeding on a technical level, they had fun together as they applied different background colors. They enjoyed the process of making artistic choices.

Grotesque
Danah Chuc
Age 10, Grade 5
P.S. 254, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Branislava Duranovic Scheluchin
Oil pastel on paper

My main goal in this drawing is to show feelings and have the viewer think about the emotions the grotesque face expresses. Drawing or any type of art calms me down, and when I make art all my struggles float off my shoulders. I just go with the flow and I relax.

Teacher Comments:

Very often inspiration comes from the things that surround us

but often go unnoticed. In this unit the fifth-grade students learned about the architecture of New York City, its decorative reliefs, pillars reminiscent of faraway places, and its quiet watchful protectors—grotesque stone faces. Secretive, mysterious "residents" of the city, they often exist unnoticed by the passersby.

Students observed the lights and shadows and tried to read the feelings of these faces. Expression and mystery is surely something they enjoyed while drawing these faces. They learned how to create volume, blend oil pastels, and use them to create the illusion of smooth and rough textures. Danah is a quiet and extremely focused student. She explored formal elements of art such as line, shape, and volume to create a very expressive oil pastel drawing.

New York, NY
Alex Dembitzer, Jason Garza,
Eamon Keuper, Saniyah Leon,
Lily Monaco, Raphael Romero,
Frances Sheehy
Age 10, Grade 5
P.S. 372, Brooklyn
Art Teachers: Chauna Chew and Marina Pavlutskaya
Collograph print

Alex: I would like viewers to see resemblances to real buildings. This was a difficult piece to make because the layers were a struggle. I like the precision that art sometimes requires.

Jason: I feel passionate about my art and I put a lot of work into it. When I draw it makes me feel happy.

Eamon: I hope you think we are good artists, and that the city is pretty cool. These buildings are great monuments.

Saniyah: I have pictures in my head that pour out. I hope people feel like they are looking at an actual picture of New York City, but in black and white.

Lily: I tried really hard to make this work look like actual buildings. I put a lot of work into this piece and it turned out just like I wanted it to.

Raphael: I want people to be amazed by this work of art. I want the viewers to feel that a lot of effort went into the work.

Frances: When people look at this work I want them to say, "Wow, a lot of effort went into this artwork!" and feel inspired.

Teacher Comments:

Students looked at the range of architectural styles in the city for inspiration. They were exposed to different lines, textures, and the contrasts between old and new, and contemporary and traditional. The close examination of these structures deepened their observational skills. This work reflects a collaborative process. Students worked together sharing techniques, successes, and struggles.

City Self-Portrait
Joseph Centrone
Age 11, Grade 5
P.S. 91, Queens
Art Teacher: Christine Pilling
Tempera on cardboard

I want people to look at my art and feel what I feel inside of me. I love to make art because that is who I am. Art is what I do. I grew up making art and was always drawing as a little kid. My whole family loves art. My dream is a career in art. That's for me! I want

the viewers to know who I am. I am a city kid who likes Times Square, all the buildings, games, and movies, too.

Teacher Comments:

City Self-Portrait was created as part of a painting unit. Joseph's work is a reflection of a series of lessons on drawing, portraiture, background composition, and tints and shades. I encourage my students to take risks with the medium. Joseph is a talented artist and a proud New Yorker. His self-portrait conveys a mood and energy not only about him but also about the city itself.

All the Jazz
Janier Romero
Age 11, Grade 5
P.S. 239, Queens
Art Teacher: Jean Cohn
Collograph print and cut-paper collage

I enjoy coming up with a thought, getting it down on paper, and making it a reality. I want viewers to know that I am very passionate about my artwork and that I worked very hard on this piece. When people look at my jazz poster, I want them to feel as if they are actually there.

Teacher Comments:

After a trip to the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens, the students looked at some jazz posters. We discussed the graphics and how the artists created balanced compositions by using color to unify their work. The students knew they had to plan their designs carefully. We noticed that the posters we examined had a variety of textures and were comprised of different materials. Some posters showed movement. The students were excited to begin this project. Janier worked methodically on his poster to plan out the composition. He created perspective through his use of materials. The main figure is highly stylized and detailed down to his gray hair and the beads of sweat on his face.

Seascape
Zowie Shbairo
Age 12, Grade 5
P.S./M.S. 164, Queens
Art Teacher: Catherine Kramer
Tempera on paper

Put a pencil in my hand and a paper in front of me and I'll start drawing right away. When I draw my imagination comes to life. In my artwork you see a mountain that sits beside the ocean and stands out in a strong, bold, and confident way. The ocean represents a mighty feeling. When people look at my work, I want them to feel mighty and strong about themselves. The hardest part was to paint the peach color of the clouds to show the afternoon sky. It was very difficult. The first try didn't look

good. My art teacher, Ms. Kramer, suggested that I practice on another paper. Then I started to get the hang of it.

Teacher Comments:

Zowie's work is the result of a combined drawing and painting unit on seascape and landscape compositions. Students viewed the work of various artists, discussing composition and comparing different styles of painting. Prior to starting their final compositions, they experimented with different painting techniques. All colors were mixed using only red, blue, yellow, and white paint. Zowie's painting is a balanced composition demonstrating rich use of tempera paint and awareness of light, value, and contrast. She had a clear vision of how she wanted her painting to look and brought that vision to realization.

The World in Darkness
Terry Lim
Age 10, Grade 5
P.S. 173, Queens
Art Teacher: Deborah Passik
Technology Teacher: Richard Schnabel
Sharpie and watercolor on paper

I like to make art because art expresses ideas and feelings. You can show compassion in artwork. With one piece of art, you can show a thousand words. The title of my painting might make you think that the piece is frightening, but the artwork itself shows the city at night and how bright and active it really is. The painting took tons of effort, determination, and time. By adding brightness, I balanced the darkness for a perfect look.

Teacher Comments:

Fifth-grade students discussed artwork in Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach. They created portraits using the landscape of their neighborhood in Fresh Meadows. In technology class students had researched images of New York City landmarks. In the art room they prepared sketches as part of the planning process. In creating their paintings they explored color mixing beyond secondary and tertiary colors, and tints and shades. This lesson reflects the fifth-grade art-making benchmark and performance indicators of the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts: "Students deepen imaginative capacities, and observational and expressive skills."

Terry uses color and figure movement in his painting to express the life of the city at night. The skyscrapers of Manhattan rise up in the distance, connected yet disconnected from the event in the foreground.

Red Bird
Emely Santana
Age 10, Grade 5
School for Environmental Citizenship, Bronx
Art Teacher: Michael Williams
Mixed-media papier-mâché sculpture

When people look at my artwork I want them to think that the sculpture is a real bird. I want them to notice that the bird is looking at another creature. Building my bird sculpture took lots of hard work and patience. I used many materials to make this bird. For example, I used newspaper, cardboard, glue, plastic,

and sliced rubber inner tube for texture.

Teacher Comments:

In this sequential unit, students developed sculptures of animals from their initial color pencil drawings. Recycled materials were used to construct the armature, base, and structure. Emely worked quietly and intensely on her sculpture. It has an asymmetrical balance, capturing the quirky movement and unique nature of a bird. She embellished the work with expressive, bold textures and colors.

Genetically Modified Mutt Man
Noah Ofri-Akman
Age 12, Grade 6
M.S. 104, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Sarah Rosenblum
Terracotta sculpture

Being an artist made me think about how I look at everything and how I put things into perspective. It was really fun to experiment with the features of my mutant dog-man: should my ears be perked up or hanging down and should my mouth be opened or not? Ms. Rosenblum, my ceramics teacher, helped by showing me the techniques to use in the creation of my sculpture, including how to use the necessary tools to make the features and textures. One difficulty I faced was making sure the snout was not so heavy that it would tip the piece over. I solved this design problem by hollowing out the snout and carefully balancing it with the weight of the clay in the head.

Teacher Comments:

In the process of creating three-dimensional portraits, students first were introduced to the basic proportions of the human face and head. Students examined the unique proportions and features of a particular person. They were challenged to look carefully and to continuously compare their sculpture to the photographs they used as references in order to capture in clay the details that made the individual unique. Noah gave himself an extra challenge. Rather than simply portray himself, he wanted to combine himself with his dog. Using photos of himself and his dog, he carefully picked which features of each would work best together to form a cohesive sculpture. Watching Noah work in a classroom filled with other students, it is clear that nothing else in the room matters to him when he's involved with the artistic process.

The Beauty of Movement
Jessica Lin
Age 11, Grade 6
P.S./I.S. 102, Queens
Art Teacher: Mary O'Donnell
Oil pastel on paper

As an artist I finally have a chance to express my feelings in my drawings, and that makes me feel good. My art teacher has played a huge role in my development. She has always given me positive feedback, and she cheers me on when I feel like giving up. She makes art fun and she has taught me to love art. To find the right colors, I looked at my artwork and asked myself, "What mood do you want the audience to feel?"

Teacher Comments:

This lesson reaches towards the eighth-grade drawing performance indicators of the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts: demonstration of perspective, observation of detail, correct scale of objects and figures, a wide range of values, and a personal view. The drawing unit was divided into lessons that developed students' art skills and fostered their creativity. Students chose an activity or scene that was personal to them, and developed narratives with their work. They experimented with oil pastels, learned techniques to create depth in their work, and practiced creating correct proportions of the human figure. Jessica is a quiet, serious art student and a hard worker. Having The Beauty of Movement displayed in the P.S. Art exhibition honors her practice.

The Purple Jungle
Wei Chen
Age 12, Grade 6
M.S. 74, Queens
Art Teacher: Irene Papamichael
Photoshop image

Being an artist makes me look at the world differently than other people. Everything around us is art; all I see is art. My art teacher, Ms. Papamichael, taught me everything I know about Photoshop. She gives me great advice and assigns fun projects. I have learned to draw and work in Photoshop. What challenged me the most were the colors. I used a lot of bright colors and it was difficult to make it all work together. At first, the colors in the background were distracting. I experimented with colors and found the perfect match.

Teacher Comments:

Students used Photoshop skills in creating their self-portraits. They were not allowed to use Internet images, but instead combined their photographs using a wide variety of selection tools, filters, layer styles, and layer-management skills. Students also utilized the principles of design by showing unity through color, balanced composition, and harmony in their artwork. Wei carefully planned out her self-portrait. The harmony and formal balance she created made her project stand out. She worked carefully and was motivated to keep experimenting with the composition of The Purple Jungle.

Golden Lady
Melody Pereyra
Age 13, Grade 7
M.S. 126, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Nina Fagiola
Mixed-media papier-mâché sculpture

I didn't consider myself an artist until I created this sculpture. My teacher, Ms. Fagiola, kept encouraging me and made me realize that there are all different kinds of artists out there. Succeeding at this project helped me feel confident about making art and trying new things. Ms. Fagiola is always honest about how I can make my artwork more successful. She helped me understand that mistakes can be good because that is how you learn. The most challenging part was compacting the aluminum foil around the wire to build the armature, but I finally got it. This sculpture represents an older lady going through her golden years, which is why the base is golden. Artists usually would rather show young people in their artwork. I love older people.

Teacher Comments:

This sculptural figure project was the culminating activity in a thematic unit exploring different representations of the figure in art. Before designing and constructing their figure sculptures, students drew and painted figures. This was a sustained investigation of the figure, and students learned about proportion, movement, and expressive gestures. Building on the foundation of their two-dimensional representations, students created figurative sculptures that challenged them to explore perspective, scale, and point of view in three dimensions. This work represents Melody's discovery of herself as an artist. I was impressed by Melody's clear vision for her sculpture and her perseverance in bringing her ideas to fruition. It was truly exciting to watch her personal and artistic confidence grow stronger each day.

Untitled
Daniel Abreu
Age 12, Grade 7
P.S./M.S. 161, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Lara Slotnick
Watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paper

I made a choice to be an artist. Every day I choose to continue practicing my drawing, experimenting with many materials that my friends don't see every day. Ms. Slotnick teaches me new techniques every day and encourages me to follow my career plans. Having her on my side is really an advantage. Without my art teacher, I wouldn't have had this opportunity to display my artwork. It took a lot of practice to accurately draw the different animals. Ms. Slotnick taught me techniques such as shading, adding texture, cropping, and overlapping. At first I believed my artwork was weird. But soon that negative feeling changed.

Teacher Comments:

Daniel's artwork is a product of a drawing unit incorporating Surrealism. Students were introduced to artwork of Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Meret Oppenheim, and several contemporary artists. We discussed juxtapositions, the merging of dreamlike and realistic images, and photographic precision within illogical scenes. Daniel chose to fill his majestic whale with other animals from the sea. Only from the wildly imaginative mind of Daniel could this idea have developed. He meticulously drew the details of each creature. His great choices also are seen in his background. The rich hues of the blue-green watercolor juxtapose nicely with the rough colors of the pencils. Daniel has a whole other world in his head, and we are lucky to see glimpses of this alternative universe. He took the parameters of the Surrealism assignment and exceeded them.

Bulldog
Hui Shi
Age 12, Grade 6
J.H.S. 189, Queens
Art Teacher: Meri Ezratty
Sepia pen on paper

Being an artist, I can use art to help me express my emotions and distract me when I am upset. Ms. Ezratty, my teacher, helped me improve in drawing and painting. I learned the seven-head rule for drawing people and, for this work, how to use a sepia pen. She lets us explore new media to create many different artworks. My teacher gives good comments and helpful suggestions to encourage me when I am impatient. The big challenge was dealing with the slow process of using my pen to create the texture of the fur. I kept telling myself that I needed to

make this dog beautiful. I told myself not to rush. I was going to make a cluttered background, but then the dog wouldn't stand out, so I just made a simple floor.

Teacher Comments:

Students learned about Leonardo da Vinci and his sepia-pen drawings of animals. They were encouraged to explore texture as well as character of line. Students had to think about how to define the animal's musculature beneath the skin. Close observation and the use of a variety of tones with the sepia pen help make the animal appear to be three-dimensional. Hui's unique perspective of the floor boards and careful depiction of the folds in the bulldog's skin are wonderfully rendered. Her commitment to completing this rigorous task with skill and patience is admirable.

Sneakers
Aditi Pardeshi
Age 13, Grade 7
M.S. 172, Queens
Art Teacher: Harriet Sohn
Colored print from digital photograph

Being a photographer encourages me to see life in a different way. My photography teacher, Ms. Sohn, has played a role in my creative development because she encouraged me to take pictures in various environments. I had to make sure that the light source was just right. I did this by standing in the correct position in a way that didn't block the light source, which was the sun.

Teacher Comments:

Photography becomes an important medium for students in middle school as they are making judgments, forming values, and exercising curiosity. Aditi examined many photographs taken by last year's photography students. Aditi captured the brick that shows how the elements made an impact on the surface. The sneakers are a symbol of youth. The photograph represents the contrast of old and new, and is striking in its unique quality.

Self-Portrait
Nyah Alexis
Age 13, Grade 8
M.S. 452, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Barbara Gathers
Oil pastel on paper

Art has helped me to be more confident. Once you're able to express your thoughts on paper, it becomes easier to say those things out loud. I don't need to be pushed outside the box because I'm already kind of outside of it, but it's good that my art teacher is always pushing me to try different techniques and ideas. Color is very powerful; you want to choose a background color that complements your work while giving it the right mood. This is not an easy decision. I wanted neon pink for the mood but it overpowered the face. Blue complemented the face, but the mood was wrong. After many tries, I went with green.

Teacher Comments:

Nyah's self-portrait was the product of a drawing unit focused on the proportions of the human face. The medium was oil pastel. We discussed techniques of perspective and scale, artist's choice in the degree and style of details, the importance of a range of values, and observation of details. The students used mirrors to study their faces while working on their self-portraits. They made decisions about color, and the blending of colors using oil pastels. Nyah has an outstanding portfolio created to audition for several arts high schools this year. She is very diligent, hard-working, and talented. She will attend LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in the fall of 2015. I want to honor her in every way I can before she graduates in June.

Sunset Park Library Interior
Tao Yu Xue
Age 14, Grade 8
J.H.S. 220, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: David Mosher
Ink on paper

People notice the artwork I do and tell me that they like it. It is nice to have other people ask me for help when they need a drawing for something. Maybe I could have a career making drawings for companies that need illustrations. Mr. Mosher taught me new ways to work with art materials. I was already good at drawing with pencils, but now I know more about painting and using colored pencils than I did before, and more about mixing and blending colors.

I wanted to draw the tables and the ceiling in perspective. I

accomplished this by sketching and erasing until I got it right. I made value changes by using only dots of black pen ink.

Teacher Comments:

This pen-and-ink artwork was based on a lesson that involved the students drawing an interior with furniture and at least one person. The medium was their choice. Tao Yu had to wrestle with the perspective in both the tables and the drop ceiling. He had to draw people in various sizes, depending on their distance from him. Tao is a gifted and hard-working student whom I have taught for three years. Last June as he was gathering his artwork for his portfolio, he found that many of the works were missing. He worked steadily over the summer to replace the missing artwork. This drawing is a version of one of them.

Cherry Blossoms in the Spring
Joyce Lin
Age 14, Grade 8
I.S. 239, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Ellen Shlayan
Oil on canvas

Being an artist has taught me that people view things differently. I learned that artists have many styles and techniques, and that we all should embrace our creativity. Ms. Shlayan helped me become the innovative artist I am today. She guides me to create artwork that demonstrates my skill, passion, and love for art. Creating this artwork was mentally strenuous as I really

wanted to focus on the details and developing the colors for this piece. It was physically tiring, too. I took respites from time to time to allow my arm to rest. I persevered through it all.

Teacher Comments:

The painting unit revolved around creating a landscape that displayed a personal perspective. Joyce depicted her view of a gorgeous cherry blossom scene. The artwork is characteristic of her continuous effort and dedication in art class. It contains a great variation of vibrant and fresh colors, making it highly pleasing to the eye.

Curiosity
Renee Chan
Age 13, Grade 8
J.H.S. 67, Queens
Art Teacher: Georgia Daskarolis
Acrylic on paper

As an artist I have become more observant of my environment, attentive to the characteristics and emotions of others, and more aware of my inner self. Ms. Daskarolis had me experiment with various art mediums, stressed the importance of fundamental drawing skills, and encouraged me to make an emotional connection to my art making. I wanted to paint the fish in shades

of blue and to create an illusion that my fish was a part of the blue sea. I accomplished that by mixing multiple hues with gel medium to make color glazes that I used to paint layers of color, thus creating the shadows of my fish and making it look like it was in the ocean.

Teacher Comments:

Students were asked to paint a sea creature as it emerged into the light. The illumination of the sea creature communicates a mood. Renee's painting is reflective of her character. She has a gentle disposition, and like the subject of her painting, she approaches the viewer with an engaging and curious gaze.

Self-Portrait
Samuel Lee
Age 13, Grade 8
M.S. 74, Queens
Art Teacher: Andrew Zaben
Cut-paper collage

Art taught me about colors in the world. Before I learned how to draw, colors were things that were just there in life. My third-grade teacher taught me that colors are everywhere and I should observe them. Life without color would not be enjoyable. Mr. Zaben taught me about media that I never knew existed, and he is my main influence. He helped me develop my creativity and encourages me to do my best. When I had trouble with one

area of the collage, Mr. Zaben recommended I work on another section to give myself time to think about the troubleseome area. This helped because I needed to get the project done for a high school audition.

Teacher Comments:

Students created self-portraits and shaded them using collage. They had learned several different methods of shading but this would be something new. Sam's project stood out because of the way he shaped his background, hoodie, and face. He achieved harmony through his design. He took this project beyond my expectations.

The Eye of the Beholder
Cyndia Mosley
Age 14, Grade 8
M.S. 137, Queens
Art Teacher: Rose Aranya
Soft pastel on paper

My goals in life, school, and career have slowly been shaped around art. Art is your own perspective on life. This is what my piece is about. It's all through "the eye of the beholder." For the past several years Ms. Aranya has helped mold my creative development. She helped by showing me art techniques and teaching me about the history of art. Both helped me to expand my artistic thought process. I really struggled with the shading in my self-portrait. I had difficulty conveying three-dimensionality. I met the challenge by not giving up, and working at it until I was satisfied.

Teacher Comments:

Cyndia's self-portrait is the culmination of a series of lessons examining how creating a self-portrait contributes to the process of self-discovery and self-expression. The concept of self-portraiture is centuries old, and the choices made by artists about how they represent themselves are diverse and complex. For this project, students analyzed the self-portraits of several artists in terms of mood used to convey character. Cyndia's work has a calm exterior yet her eyes show a young woman with deep thoughts and unwavering determination. This self-portrait is silent and powerful, and a perfect visual reflection of Cyndia Mosley.

Self-Portrait
Jonathan Alvarez
Age 13, Grade 8
I.S. 230, Queens
Art Teacher: Maria Bonilla
Graphite, charcoal, and chalk on paper

Ms. Bonilla has really challenged me as an artist by making me work with different media. She has played a role in my creative development by teaching me new techniques over the past three years. She has always been supportive and has helped me achieve my goals. Creating the lighting and the details in the face were challenging. By going over my mistakes until I was able to get it right, I met the challenge. I worked very hard and I am very satisfied with the results.

Teacher Comments:

One focus of middle school art making is sustained observation to express a point of view. In eighth grade, students used all of the drawing skills they had previously learned to create self-portraits. Jonathan is a natural artist. For him, the pencil just rolls over the page finding its path seemingly without effort. Jonathan's challenge was getting beyond his comfort zone. He accomplished this with a bold and confident personal style. He is such a gifted young artist. I hope he will continue to develop his artistic skills.

Dancing Penguins
Evan Rosado
Age 13, Grade 8
P.S. 37, Staten Island
Art Teacher: Rebecca Kaufman
Tempera on paper

I like to draw. I like to paint. I like to create things. Ms. Rebecca is amazing. She gives me really cool materials to work with and I used them to make the best picture I could. I drew a dancing penguin family.

Teacher Comments:

During the winter, we learn about animals that live in cold climates. We looked at photos of penguin families. We worked with tempera paints on watercolor paper. Evan drew a dancing penguin family. He created a balanced composition with an interesting use of positive and negative space. He used different proportions for the younger and older penguins. He created a pattern with their orange feet that gives a sense of movement. Evan attended to detail by giving the penguins personalities. They appear to be happy, having a great time dancing in the snow. I used Dragon Dictation to interview Evan because he has difficulty writing and was able to communicate his thoughts to me with the Dragon Dictation app on an iPad.

Untitled
Devyn Macias
Age 12, Grade 8
I.S. 61, Staten Island
Art Teacher: Gladys Incle-Ramos
Ink on paper

Art is the home to bring myself back to whenever I must express my emotions and feelings. My art reflects who I am and what I have been through. It is my passion and something I will continue to do throughout my life. My eyes have been opened to different styles of art and different media because of Ms. Ramos.

Teacher Comments:

This wonderful drawing evolved from a lesson on line and negative space. Students were asked to make ink drawings. They chose the topic, but had to follow a format that incorporated negative space as a key part of the composition. This artwork demonstrates Devyn's personal view. To create Untitled she had to plan, make choices about composition, and use materials properly. Devyn is an amazing artist. Her artwork reflects her skills and her dedication.

Jim Dine–Inspired Tool
Daysey Vazquez
Age 13, Grade 8
M.S. 194, Bronx
Art Teacher: Dolores Hostomsky
Chalk pastel on paper

A great teacher can play a major part in a student's creativity. That's what happened to me with my art teacher, who helped me in ways she might not even know. I was stuck thinking about what would happen if a piece of art came out horribly. Ms. Hostomsky helped me find a way to deal with my anxiety by making me realize that I should just draw what I see and feel. Being an artist can be life-changing. Spending time creating a magnificent piece of art is better than spending time on the things that you will regret later in life.

Teacher Comments:

The eighth-grade drawing unit inspired by artist Jim Dine was an extension of a realistic charcoal drawing of an ordinary household tool. After completing this drawing, students were challenged to explore color as a means of self-expression by depicting a tool in abstraction with a focus on scale and proportion. Students learned how to create contrast in color as well as a sense of light and highlights. Daysey demonstrated her understanding of these elements in her drawing, and she has mastered the skill of blending chalk pastels. What I feel makes this artwork exceptional is her creative and unique ability to express herself visually in her own style.

Self-Portrait
Yomtov Kamhi
Age 15, Grade 9
P.S. 721, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Elizabeth Griffin
Tempera on paper

When people see my artwork, they feel excited and happy because my artwork looks nice and looks pretty. People like my work because it's colorful. Making art is fun. My teacher helped me use different paints and brushes to make art. She was always nice and helped me to keep my focus.

Teacher Comments:

This painting unit included lessons on mark making. As students created self-portraits they explored different brushes, tried different ways of using paint, and mixed primary colors to create new colors. Yomtov is a very intuitive painter. He chose to present himself on the floor, curled up, holding his arms around his knees.

Blue Sky and Building
Cindy Rodriguez
Age 15, Grade 9
Theatre Arts Production Company School, Bronx
Art Teacher: Don Cerrone
Colored print from digital photograph

I like to explore the world around me. Now I see things in a different way. (Not that things are different, but I think how I look at them is different.) The camera helps me see these things through new eyes. Mr. Cerrone always pushes us to look at what we are doing, think about it, and try to find new and interesting ways to look at our environment. At first, I was not even sure I wanted to take a photo but when I had the camera in my hands, things changed. The biggest challenge, aside from

being frustrated, was finding the right place to photograph. I really was not looking and then I came upon the building and the sky. It all seemed to fit together. I guess you have to keep looking and doing.

Teacher Comments:

We discussed composition and how color itself could influence shapes, forms, and subjects within the frame. I wanted the class to make connections between form and color, make observations, and create their own artist statements. I was actually startled when I saw this photo. I was taken with the color and shapes and how they worked in the frame. It is a wonderful shot and an expressive composition.

Biomorphic Structure
Anastasia Pak
Age 15, Grade 10
John Dewey High School, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Michael Solo
Sculpted rigid foam

Being an artist helps me to see things from different perspectives, and this helped me to succeed with Biomorphic Structure. Mr. Solo inspired me by encouraging me to explore a new material and a new way of making art. He also helped me come up with ideas. To create my biomorphic artwork, I had to

learn how to remove the material from the block of foam in order to complete my sculpture.

Teacher Comments:

Students created abstract shapes and forms that resembled living things. The sculptural process that Anastasia employed involved the subtractive method of creating a sculptural form. It was fascinating for me as an art educator to witness the creative process unfold, as Anastasia learned to work with a new medium and discovered how to use new tools and techniques in order to achieve her desired artistic goals.

Collage of Bing
Bing Liang
Age 16, Grade 10
Young Women's Leadership School, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Marne Meisel
Mixed-media collage

Ms. Meisel presented us with materials I never thought of using, like special papers, yarn, cardboard, and tracing paper. I did not think I would be able to make art with all of that stuff. Managing

time was tough. Coming up with ideas, having them not work out, and working through them was tough. Perseverance helped me through.

Teacher Comments:

Students discussed contemporary multicultural works of art and developed visual textures through mark making and collage. They reflected on how the animals they selected symbolized their own characteristics. Bing is hard-working and highly gifted.

Untitled
Ashley Daniel
Age 16, Grade 11
Clara Barton High School, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Brenda Bradley
Ceramic with glaze and underglaze treatment

Sculpting allows my ideas and feelings to become three dimensional, this way you can literally touch them. My art teacher motivated me to push myself, and because of this I have found myself as an artist. I know I can tackle any project if I try; all it takes is my will. This was my first attempt at sculpting an entire human figure. Making it more challenging was the fact

that I usually work more abstractly. Creating this figurative work forced me to think differently about sculpture.

Teacher Comments:

Ashley's Medusa figure is a contemporary response to femininity, power, and self-awareness using a mythological theme. The column acts as a throne, emphasizing strength and wisdom. Although Medusa is seated in a stately manner, the serpents appear to be moving and her flesh is turning to stone. Ashley's work is sophisticated, dynamic, and thought provoking. She is artistically and intellectually curious, and never ceases to amaze me with her ideas and work.

Evicted
Lauren Kelly
Age 17, Grade 11
Gramercy Arts High School, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Jack DeMartino
Acrylic on paper

Being an artist gives me an awareness that I did not have before. Mr. DeMartino gives us a project with a prompt that is broad enough to allow for many interpretations. My biggest challenge in creating my piece was coming up with the composition to convey my idea. In addition I had to make sure that the colors in my painting came together well. It helped to do a series of thumbnail sketches. With the colors I made sure to think about every tone and shade before I put it on the painting, and tweaked them as I worked through the piece.

Teacher Comments:

Students researched the Social Realist movement in American art, and then explored a current social issue that was meaningful to them. Working in a variety of media, students produced works that share many of the same issues adult contemporary artists grapple with today. Lauren's exploration of gentrification functions on many levels; it is at once a personal statement, a reflection of a major trend in the urban landscape, and a subtle statement on racial stereotyping.

Kneeling Warrior
Jonathan Garcia
Age 17, Grade 11
High School of Art and Design, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Ian Pasetsky
Clay sculpture

Artists are part of a special community, and being an artist is a great way to make friends. My art teacher helped me figure out the composition and overall structure of this piece. I had never worked with clay before. To overcome my lack of experience I took my time and used my knowledge of anatomy to set a strong foundation for the body. I didn't rush the details. The piece required more clay than I planned for, and I had to take clay from other parts of the piece that were less visible. In the end I created something I was satisfied with.

Teacher Comments:

The sculpture unit began with drawings of imaginative characters. These were turned into maquettes using Super Sculpey clay. Jonathan carefully selected a sophisticated pose that reveals an awareness of spatial relationships and balance. We looked at some maquettes from animation studios and talked about how poses are selected for the characters. The unit presented a career option for cartoonists interested in becoming character designers.

I was intrigued by the details and texture of the figure's cloak. Jonathan was able to take something that had little of either and make it work. Jonathan's depiction of a long, flowing cloak is so successful that you forget you are looking at clay.

Untitled
Gabrielle Robinson
Age 16, Grade 11
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Jane Felber
Black-and-white print from digital photograph

Photography is more than a hobby. It is a way to express myself and capture snippets of time. I want to make a difference in the world as an environmental activist and I feel that through photography, I achieve that. I capture pristine landscapes so people may appreciate our planet and think to themselves, "Wow that's real, that's our Earth." Ms. Felber has been instrumental in helping us create our voices as artists.

This year I have been building a concise body of work starting with darkroom and digital images. At the People's Climate March on September 21, 2014, thousands of people gathered together on the Upper West Side of the city. A challenge for me was capturing an image from a unique perspective. I climbed up onto a street lamp, photographed the scene from a mid-level height, and ultimately got my shot!

Teacher Comments:

Advanced Photography students explore photo narratives with specific themes. As young artists, students are encouraged to explore and experiment with a specific point of view as photojournalists. By investigating a theme in depth, Gabrielle hopes to change prevailing attitudes and ultimately save our world.

Paradox
Brandon Seda
Age 16, Grade 11
Maspeth High School, Queens
Art Teacher: Meghan Gosselin
Graphite and marker on cardboard

I haven't always lived in the safest of neighborhoods, and that has been very hard on me. Drawing became a positive outlet for me to express my emotions. I plan on pursuing a career in the arts one day. My art teacher believes in my abilities and motivates me whenever I feel like giving up. Ms. Gosselin's encouragement has given me the confidence to put myself out there as an artist. She provides me with the feedback I need to improve my work. I found cardboard extremely difficult to

work with. Cutting out the details of my face was tough. It was stressful trying to keep everything in proportion. However, using my knowledge of human proportions, I succeeded.

Teacher Comments:

For my Art III class, students studied the proportions of the face. They started out by drawing self-portraits, using mirrors to guide them. Students experimented with recycled materials to build a self-portrait relief sculpture. This unit provided students with the opportunity to practice their observational skills while trying something new. Using cardboard forces students to consider working with nontraditional materials. Brandon is a gifted artist. This work demonstrates his unique style.

Snack Time
Yanitzin Diaz
Age 16, Grade 11
Queens High School of Teaching
Art Teacher: Eric Fox
Mixed media on paper

Art has helped me to express myself and my emotions without having to say them out loud. Whenever I paint or draw, I am expressing myself without fear of people judging me. Mr. Fox teaches us that art is all about thinking outside the box. He reminds me that I have to trust my talent, and he motivates me to challenge myself and have confidence. He advises me to take risks with my artwork.

In Snack Time I wanted the objects to look as if they were sitting in the vending machine. I had to carefully shade the folds in the

bags of snacks. The metal rings were challenging; I wanted to use black ink but was scared to do so. I overcame this challenge by drawing over the objects with pencil and then trusting myself with black ink.

Teacher Comments:

While working with students to prepare their college portfolios, I require them to choose interesting subjects to draw from observation. They were encouraged to venture out of the classroom to go on location to draw and photograph. Selecting their own subjects and media helps them develop their personal styles. Yanitzin turned an object, which people look at all the time and think nothing of, into a beautiful piece of art. This was her first artwork using mixed media. She worked with watercolors, markers, and colored pencils, and this has led to other successful experimentations in the art studio.

Relativity
Mariah Marshall
Age 16, Grade 11
Scholars' Academy, Queens
Art Teacher: Kelly Trpic
Colored pencil on paper

Through the process of creating art I am able to make sense of myself and the world around me. Ms. Trpic has constantly and unapologetically taken me out of my comfort zone to teach me the fundamental principles of art. She is much of the reason for the certainty, and also the apprehension, behind every pencil stroke I make on a project. Ms. Trpic has fostered my creative development. I challenged myself to create a piece that

communicated the complex feelings you have when you think about your future.

Teacher Comments:

Students studied and analyzed the works of great masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio to gain awareness of chiaroscuro, emphasis, and composition. Working directly from observation, students were challenged to render transparent objects. Mariah's skills, confidence, and unique voice are revealed in this extraordinary work. Her use of the medium to create extreme contrasts of lights and darks transforms an everyday object into a bold and powerful statement. Mariah has a very bright future.

Gorilla
Samira Mostafa
Age 16, Grade 11
Newcomers High School, Queens
Art Teacher: Mark Ruff
Clay with bronze patina

I come from a small developing country, Bangladesh, and we don't have a lot of facilities to learn about art. I never made a sculpture before, but I am proud of the piece I've created. Mr. Ruff and my classmates helped me a lot in creating this piece. From the first day I came to this school Mr. Ruff has taught me so many things about art making. He always spreads positive energy, points out what I need to fix, and encourages me to do my best. Most important of all, he never says that I can't do

something, even when I think I'm doing horribly. He never lets his students leave their work incomplete. He's one of the calmest and most patient teachers in Newcomers High School.

Teacher Comments:

This was a unit of lessons on animal sculptures. Students began by making metal armatures. Clay was added with the help of a variety of references, most importantly Eliot Goldfinger's Animal Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form. Students used the Explain Everything app on the iPad to reflect on their art-making process. Samira has infused a real sense of presence into Gorilla with her understanding of the animal's anatomy and its menacing stance.

Reality
Shailene Segura
Age 16, Grade 11
Millennium Art Academy, Bronx
Art Teacher: Laura Blau
Acrylic and pen on canvas

Making art has helped me to develop different perspectives about art and the world around me. Through my art I am able to bring forth my voice. Ms. Blau continues to push me in order for me to reach beyond my limits. I paid particular attention to details and to the color contrast of the robin and the paper cranes against the background. I had to redo the piece until I felt satisfied with how they contrasted against the light marble background.

Teacher Comments:

Portfolio class students produce a body of work that is thematically and aesthetically connected. Students are pushed to develop their own artistic signature. Students evolve individually in their development of a personal style, control of media, and mastery of techniques. I have seen a strong progression in Shailene's art from one year to the next. I am particularly proud of her mixture of painting styles in this artwork. There is a sense of stillness as well as movement in the painting, which makes it very successful.

Self-Portrait with Rock and Roll Guitar
Kashief Mitchell
Age 19, Grade 12
P.S. 77, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Amie Robinson
Watercolor and ink on paper

[With the help of communication symbols]: I love music and I love playing the guitar. Music and art make me very happy. Creating art makes me feel smart. My favorite thing about art class is using watercolors and markers to make paintings. I like using different colors and watching them mix together. My teacher listens to me when I talk and helps me in class. One challenge that I faced when making this work was trying to

express my ideas. I hope people will know more about me from this painting.

Teacher Comments:

Over the course of the year, Kashief has demonstrated great talent as a painter, building a mixed-media portfolio that includes works in ink and watercolor. Also a talented musician, Kashief often sings in class and plays air guitar in the hallway. Everything in this painting captures his cheerful and energetic personality. His bright, vibrant colors, stylistic use of line, and strong sense of diagonal composition suggest excitement, movement, and his enthusiasm for both art and music.

Thus
Liam Sullivan
Age 17, Grade 12
Edward R. Murrow High School, Brooklyn
Art Teacher: Spy Kontarinis
Spray paint on canvas

Spray paint is an unforgiving medium, which does not really allow for corrections. It reminds me of fresco because like fresco, spray paint is difficult to correct and is usually used to cover large areas. If I need to correct anything I have to start the area over from scratch and cover my previous stencils. It is arduous but manageable. My teachers have all afforded me the ability to work to the beat of my own drum. They have encouraged me to create in the way I wish to create, and they have given me the tools to do so.

Teacher Comments:

Liam is a senior in my portfolio class, where the art students work independently. At the beginning of the year he pledged to explore new media. He picked up some spray paint cans and began to create various templates for his work. He connected his artwork to New York, his beloved community, and the public/urban art that adorn our streets. Liam researched artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Keith Haring, putting his own spin on their work. I love the boldness of Liam's work. He is not afraid to make the viewer slightly uncomfortable, and he enjoys their comments. His work is refreshing, exciting, and beautifully executed.

Untitled
Monica Erlano
Age 17, Grade 12
New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math High School, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Hilary Svihla
Graphite on paper

Since I started making art, I made it a habit to think to myself before I draw, "I can definitely do this." As long as I don't give up, and have confidence in my abilities, anything is possible. I set high goals for myself and I continue to strive to achieve them. Ms. Svihla introduced me to new media, techniques, and styles. Now I'm not afraid to try new things and to test my creativity. This was the first time I drew a metal object, and I found it difficult to simulate the material while staying true to all the details. My strong determination to give my best helped me meet this challenge.

Teacher Comments:

Students developed realistic drawings of spoons based on observation, and added a wide range of value to depict volume, depth, and reflections. They drew a spoon by breaking it down into basic shapes and lines, sketching it in its entirety. Students learned to use a variety of graphite drawing pencils, applying different pressures to achieve a range of values, thus creating the illusion of three-dimensionality. I emphasized the importance of using reflections to depict metallic surfaces. We looked at the work of Roberto Bernardi to learn more about depicting reflective surfaces. Monica has consistently exhibited strong skills in depicting objects realistically, and here she has beautifully rendered value and detail.

More Than a Number
Marissa Gonzalez
Age 18, Grade 12
Gramercy Arts High School, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Jack DeMartino
Compressed charcoal on paper

Because of my dyslexia, as a young girl my speech was not always clear. When I found art I was at a point of desperation. I wanted to be understood, so I started drawing as a means of communication. As I got older I drew pictures as a hobby, but I didn't get serious about my art until high school. Mr. DeMartino has encouraged me to be a socially aware student and to turn

my reflections of society into art. I found it challenging to depict stress and pressure because the figure looks detached from his surroundings. I solved this problem by using the figure's pose to my advantage and creating lines around the figure to represent this pressure.

Teacher Comments:

Working in a variety of mediums, students produced artwork that demonstrated their concerns. Marissa's drawing perfectly expresses the constant pressure young people feel today, as their humanity is undervalued, while their test scores assume greater importance.

Frustration
Jemielee Perez
Age 17, Grade 12
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Elisa De Gregorio
Colored pencil and pastel on paper

Being surrounded by art has opened many doors for my future, from being a full-time artist to owning a business. Ms. De Gregorio has believed in me more than I believed in myself. Without her, I wouldn't be on the artistic path that I am on now. Creating this artwork made me look back at the struggles and the obstacles I’ve been hit with throughout my life. I realize that it's OK to fall down or to fail. In those moments of vulnerability, it's OK to let it out instead of holding it in like I normally do.

Teacher Comments:

Frustration was created in our after-school independent drawing and illustration program exploring the stress that young people feel as they move on to different phases of their lives. Jemielee is preparing to move on to college and transitioning into adulthood. Part of the challenge was to capture realistic qualities, yet maintain a personal expressive quality in the work. This is an unusual composition. The focus is primarily on the face, thus engaging the viewer to not just see the work, but also to experience the sense of frustration felt by the subject.

I Am a Paradox
Shekinah Guab
Age 18, Grade 12
High School of Art and Design, Manhattan
Art Teacher: James Harrington
Colored pencil and ink on Bristol paper

The expressive potential of art appeals to me. My responsibility is to achieve an aesthetically pleasing image and to create a connection with the viewer. I am constantly trying to define and redefine the sense of emotional connection between my work, the viewer, and myself. Art is my bridge to the world. Developing my independence and my artistic confidence is important to Mr. Harrington. He often gives me advice that is important to my development as an artist. In I Am a Paradox I wanted to portray the internal effect of insecurity. Emphasizing negative messages, I wanted to demonstrate how we often pay attention to the negative rather than the positive. There is a struggle between self-doubt and confidence.

Teacher Comments:

Shekinah's visual journey has been full of sudden and unexpected changes of heart. She wasn't sure of the unifying theme for her work. We worked somewhat blindly, trusting that, by following her instincts, a theme would emerge. Her technique is remarkably developed and the results so stunning that I knew we couldn't go wrong. Her work shows more than brilliant eye and hand coordination; Shekinah is a thinker. When the theme was inchoate, the work still poured out of her. Her work was about mood, then about surrealism, mood again, and finally the subconscious mind. It is appropriate that the theme itself developed subconsciously. I Am a Paradox is the result of a charge to combine text and image. Shekinah shaped the assignment, as all great artists, to fit her artistic identity.

Self-Portrait Mood
Christine Abraham
Age 17, Grade 12
High School of Art and Design, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Maria Christina Jimenez
Oil pastel on paper

I am tempted to draw everything I see. I like to portray expression in the people I illustrate, and I enjoy illustrating peaceful settings that invite the viewer in. My art teacher, Ms. Jimenez, always encourages me to be creative and tackle concepts that I haven't explored before. My thematic concentration is portraiture, and Ms. Jimenez suggested artists who might inspire me such as Edgar Degas, Harvey Dinnerstein, and Ellen Eagle. I wanted to make myself the main focus and to make the background gray scale. Proportions can get skewed and I had to make certain adjustments. I'm happy

with the outcome of this piece. I created a peaceful expression that draws the audience in.

Teacher Comments:

Seniors' portfolios are based on a theme of their choosing. The body of work must consist of different media that must be integrated into their themes. Peer critiques help students measure their progress. Christine created a series of portraits that are deeply personal, sensitive, and beautifully rendered. Here, she depicts a new self-confidence. She boldly looks at the viewer with assurance. The contrasting warm colors of her skin are juxtaposed against the cool white sky. Her composition is intelligently designed, creating proper tension and visual manipulation. It demonstrates a balance of tones, exceptional technical ability, and artistic maturity.

Raíces Maya
Kathy Flores
Age 18, Grade 12
High School of Art and Design, Manhattan
Art Teacher: Maria Christina Jimenez
Oil on canvas

As an artist, I have gained an appreciation of museums and artists' work. Ms. Jimenez suggests contemporary and historical painters as references, which are very valuable to my creative process. I better understand the process of conveying aesthetic beauty one sees and feels. One of my major influences is John Singer Sargent. His inspiring ability to capture the personalities of people with such finesse is remarkable. His artwork has rich color and strong emotion. Ms. Jimenez has been a pillar of encouragement since I began her class two years ago. She is always there to support me and help me improve my artistic skills. I was surprised at what I could achieve. I added

myself in a landscape setting. The symbols on the steps refer to my Mayan ancestry. This is my first large-scale painting. It was very intimidating, but when I began painting I became more comfortable with the size and fell in love with the process.

Teacher Comments:

Seniors were presented with a PowerPoint presentation of contemporary and historical artists as an introduction to thematic content. They decided on their themes with the aim of developing and investigating their own ideas and artistic styles. Class critiques were paramount. Working larger was a challenge for Kathy. The visual strength of this piece lies in the placement, technique, and rhythm that is enhanced by the inclusion of Mayan script. This was a breakthrough in Kathy's personal style and the title, Raíces Maya acknowledges her Mayan ancestry. It is a celebratory artwork for all Latinos.

Untitled
Emma Patterson
Age 17, Grade 12
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Manhattan
Art Teacher: April Lombardi
Oil on canvas

Art casts a new light on every scene, every object, every feeling in my life. I cannot say how it has made a difference, because I can't imagine my life without it. Ms. Lombardi has helped me develop as an artist by allowing me to experiment and make mistakes, but still suggesting and offering help. I like to do things on my own, so a teacher who is fairly lenient about process helps me grow as an artist. I struggled with proportion and perspective. I asked for several people's opinions and advice, and continued experimenting and puttering along until I felt it was complete.

Teacher Comments:

This work is the result of an assignment to depict a figure, or figures, in an interior with a view into another space. The class viewed, analyzed, and discussed drawings and paintings by well-known artists who worked with a similar subject. The class created rubrics to assess their paintings. This painting is from Emma's current series of portraits and self-portraits. The series consistently demonstrates her strong personal style and control of the materials and techniques, in alignment with the benchmark for twelfth grade of the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts.

Untitled
Catherine Labarca
Age 17, Grade 12
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Manhattan
Art Teacher: April Lombardi
Oil on canvas

I am insignificant in comparison to what I lay on canvas. Art is more than a stress reliever or a hobby; it's a passion, my language of expression. Art has allowed me to challenge and push myself to achieve more than I thought imaginable. Ms. Lombardi encourages me to think bigger and be ambitious with my ideas. She has taught me to trust and rely on my instincts and decisions to achieve my best work. My greatest struggle was capturing the atmosphere and energy of New York City with

its constant motion of people and cars, the liveliness felt in the air, and the overpowering, enchanting city lights.

Teacher Comments:

This painting, planned and completed over several weeks with daily lessons, was in response to a long-term assignment. The lessons included topics such as complex compositions, use of color temperature, near/far techniques for creating the illusion of space, and the principles of design. The class viewed, analyzed, and discussed works by famous artists. Catherine demonstrated great control of the medium, demonstrating mastery of painting techniques. To date she has a large body of work comprised of at least three series on separate themes. This painting is from her Times Square series.

Goldenage Magazine
Steffany Cielo
Age 17, Grade 12
High School for Arts and Business, Queens
Art Teacher: Gina Cestero
Adobe Illustrator vector image

I express myself through various art forms and that has made me more observant of my surroundings. Ms. Cestero believes that art is an important part of our lives. Her genuine passion for art and design has taught me a lot about the industry and I feel prepared for new challenges. In Goldenage Magazine I combined two favorite art forms: photography and graphic design. It was difficult to close all the anchor points, and to get all of the correct tones and values of my skin color. I had to be sure that I wasn't leaving any space between each shape. I kept

refining my work by zooming in to get clear views of all the fine details.

Teacher Comments:

In my commercial design class, students were charged with creating magazine covers using the self-portrait as subject matter. Working from original photos, students used the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator to vector the image, ensuring that each area matched their skin tones, and illustrated realistic likenesses of their faces. Steffany's magazine cover highlights her playfulness and youthfulness but also provides a fine example of her inherent passion for the arts. I am inspired by her enthusiasm and artistic drive. I was drawn to this piece because Steffany used a vectored portrait of herself making a funny face, and it really highlights her personality and creative flair. Fellow student Antar Zaiter provided technical assistance.

Umbrella
Richard Ortiz
Age 17, Grade 12
Theatre Arts Production Company School, Bronx
Art Teacher: Don Cerrone
Black-and-white print from a digital photograph

I look at some of my old photographs and ask myself, "Who did that?" Mr. Cerrone turned things around for me and showed me that I actually could create photos that I liked and other people liked, too. Now I have confidence in what I do and I am proud of my photos. My teacher makes us work at what we are doing. Sometimes I think I am finished and he explains that I am not. It's good to have a teacher who talks to you about your work. Mr. Cerrone doesn't talk about good or bad, but instead how

and why. Nothing is wrong; it can just become more interesting. One of the challenges for me was the rain, but in the end the rain really makes the shot.

Teacher Comments:

I explain to my students that a narrative photograph contains the same properties as a written story—instead of words and sentences, there are images. You tell your story by building upon the tools you acquire. You develop a literacy to express yourself and you take your message beyond the classroom. Richard's photograph tells a wonderful story. The framing, texture, and mood of the shot places the viewer there on that rainy day, in the street wondering where everyone is going, what they are doing, and who they are.

In the Garden of Good and Evil
Jon-Anthony Rivera
Age 18, Grade 12
Harry S. Truman High School, Bronx
Art Teacher: Raphael Lopez
Colored print from digital photograph

Art is freedom! It gives me the opportunity to channel my instinctive muses of art to connect with others. Mr. Lopez has high expectations for all the students in the class. His method of teaching is clear and challenging. His constructive criticism puts me on the right track. Mr. Lopez took the time to explain and encourage me to aim higher. The results are something that I am very proud of. It took me a long time to master the techniques and create the image, but once I learned how to create the photo montages, the process became second nature to me.

Teacher Comments:

The unit began with class discussions on methods for creating photo-montage portfolios using Photoshop. Works by professional photographers and graphic designers were used as points of reference. Students superimposed self-portraits onto other images. The results were powerful composites. As formative assessment, there were peer-to-peer and teacher critiques as well as self-reflections. Jon-Anthony is a talented artist. He has high expectations for himself. In this thought- provoking work, Good and Evil compete as the power of darkness versus the transparency of light. Viewers are left to make personal connections at a deeper level.

Turbee
Rebecca Turbee
Age 17, Grade 12
Summer Arts Institute, city-wide program
Art Teacher: Jane Kahn
Watercolor on paper

I have learned to deal with different media in new ways and to express what I picture in my head. I also have learned to be more open to different artistic ideas and suggestions from other artists and peers. My art teacher has helped me in my creative development by pushing me to go outside my comfort zone by introducing me to new media, such as watercolor, and pen and ink. I am used to oil paint, and generally do not reach for

watercolors, so gaining control of the medium was a challenge.

Teacher Comments:

Creating a large full-figure self-portrait is required for rising seniors in the Summer Arts Institute visual arts class. It is standard practice to include a self-portrait in preparing a portfolio for the college application process. Rebecca chose to showcase her mastery of watercolor. During the month-long program she learned to use more water and then to be patient—waiting between laying down each wash of color, and letting each dry before applying the next. Rebecca's ability to handle watercolor in a work this large is extremely impressive.