Ashlyn Scoggins
*NHS Distinction in AP Studio Art – Photography 2015
Breadth
Concentration
1. What is the central idea of your concentration? (500 characters maximum)
The central idea of my concentration is to portray the feelings evoked by the superstitions that most people are forced to live with. My pieces create various moods to go with each superstition ranging from eerie to empowering. All of the pieces, however, have a haunting undertone that help to portray the toll a superstition has on ones life as well as on their sanity.
2. How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples. When referencing specific images, please indicate image numbers. (1350 characters maximum)
In order to express and enhance the haunted feeling that is felt through each of the pieces in my concentration, I used extremely high contrast as well as making all images black and white. Not only did this help to create the mood I was trying to portray within my concentration, it also made each individual piece into a uniform series. By having the same technique of high values and no use of color, I was able to make each piece different while still giving the same flow and meaning to the concentration as a whole. My idea for superstitions started out as wanting to portray them in a negative aspect. One who is superstitious is constantly watching their back and tends to have extreme cases of paranoia that can literally “haunt” them. However, some superstitions are bad omens while others are good luck charms. [Example: Image 3 of “Spilled Salt” versus Image 12 of “Our Fate is in the Stars”]. This was the challenge I now had to overcome: making the different meanings of various superstitions come together and center in on one specific idea. This is where my use of high contrast and black and white comes in. Though the superstition in image 12 evokes a feeling of empowerment while the superstition in image 3 evokes bad luck, I was able to use the similar techniques to have them both give off a mysterious and haunting vibe.
Keanne Jones
* NHS Distinction in AP Studio Art – 2D Design 2015
*2015 National Scholastic Silver Key Winner
*2015 Regional Scholastic Gold Key Winner
*GFWC-NC District VI Art Festival 3rd place in Color Pencil
Breadth
Concentration
1. What is the central idea of your concentration? (500 characters maximum)
The central theme of the concentration is a mesh between fantasy, warfare, and chess. The chess pieces are living breathing warriors that fight for their side of the board or land domination. To keep the sense of fantasy and fiction, the use of comic book style illustrated was important to create a harmony as the concentration evolved.
2. How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples. When referencing specific images, please indicate image numbers. (1350 characters maximum)
The various contrasts in the colors of the backgrounds showed the mood setting for each piece. Copic markers made an excellent tool for the majority of the pieces because of their ability to blend into other colors smoothly. The background starts to silhouette into simple shapes that emphasize to characters and their actions as it progresses. The kings of the opposing sides each got one piece dedicated to them as an inspiring face for their pawns to fight on, similar to propaganda posters in World War II (#3 & #7). The final piece was painted to give this feeling of class, as if a high society group got together after playing a competitive game. Despite the altering style, they still had a unity that kept them all together with their over arching theme and similar illustrated style.
Dominic Taylor
*2015 Regional Scholastic Silver Key Winner
Breadth
Concentration
1. What is the central idea of your concentration? (500 characters maximum)
The central idea of my concentration is to capture the beautiful light scene at night in Downtown Durham. Downtown is highlighted with neon lights that illustrate the diverse, historical, and cultural nature of the city.
2. How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples. When referencing specific images, please indicate image numbers. (1350 characters maximum)
The concentration emphasizes the subjects of the pictures using the elements of color, value, texture, and space, and the principles of balance, movement and rhythm. In image 2, the Motorco sign is asymmetrically balanced; the bulb lights in the background give a sense of space and add rhythm to the piece, highlighting the musical culture of the area. In image 1, the lights at the base of the NC Mutual building, which can be seen from anywhere, highlights the history of Durham with a dramatic sense of value. The diversity of the city is illuminated through the lights of the bus station, seen at the bottom of image 1, where the population of Durham passes through. The lights create movement and rhythm, which lead the viewer’s eye throughout the photograph, just as buses move people throughout the city. Overall, the use of elements, color, value, texture, and space, and principles, rhythm, movement, and balance, create a realistic ambiance of the cultural, historical, and diverse nature of Downtown Durham.
Shadell Lowe
*GFWC-NC District VI Art Festival 3rd place in B&W Photography
Breadth
Concentration
1. What is the central idea of your concentration? (500 characters maximum)
The central idea for this concentration is to show a single teenage mother persevering through poverty with her son. Current social issues lead toward womanhood, women’s rights and how they play a role in society. Throughout the concentration, the mother never let her son feel the pain of his life in poverty. The mother tries to give her son the same opportunities other children have instead of worrying where his next meal comes from.
2. How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples. When referencing specific images, please indicate image numbers. (1350 characters maximum)
The concentration demonstrates the exploration of the central idea by using unity, contrast, emphasis and balance to tell the story of a single teenage mother and her son trying to survive, while breaking the stereotypes surrounding poverty. For example, Concentration 5 shows the mother trying to manage the bills and placing that pressure on herself instead on her child. This image uses contrast and balance to help the reader understand how the mother will never let her problems impact her child. The use of contrast and balance with an angle and wide compositions shows the mother working hard and her son playing. Along with Concentration 7, also uses of balance and contrast to emphasize the central idea as the mother stands out on the street as her child sleeps at home. Lastly, Concentration 12 has three photos place together to support the central idea of persevering through poverty by using balance, unity and contrast. This shows the end of a hard journey where she succeeded and broke stereotypes by becoming a teenage mother who graduated high school.
Tessa Wells
Breadth
Concentration
1. What is the central idea of your concentration? (500 characters maximum)
The central idea of the concentration is body substitution, which shows the possibilities of changing the body parts of people and animals into their whimsical counterparts. The substitution of body parts developed from the inspiration of how certain physical characteristics fit with subjects, ranging from contrasting features, figurative language, and even homographs.
2. How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples. When referencing specific images, please indicate image numbers. (1350 characters maximum)
The concentration shows how a part of the subjects have been altered through the elements of texture, line, form, color, value, and the principals of movement and balance. For example, Images 1 and 4 consist of animals with a swapped texture and color, which shows the art of trickery through switched roles in nature. Images 3, 6, and 9 play with the idea of internal insides, a kiwi, confetti, and pumpkin guts, being emphasized by color and line. The idea of body substitution is amplified in Image 5, where the faces of the Arctic people are replaced with Arctic animals. The use of movement and balance creates a sense of personification with the sea lion and penguin. Images 10 and 11 demonstrate how the whole body, internally and externally, illustrates the idea of body substitution, because the individuals are made of their environment. This idea is emphasized by color, value, and form. Overall, the central idea of the concentration was strengthened by elements and principals in order to illustrate the idea of body parts being replaced with meaningful counterparts.
Eller's Artists 