Paint a mental picture of an artistic melting pot, composed of a handful of extremely talented artists in school. This picture is one of AP Studio Art, in which students were given a twist on their pretest introductory project and were asked to decorate the physical walls of the art department.
This class, in which students explore different types of artistic expression, is composed of 11 students. Senior Emily Walters notes that this year’s AP Art is a very special group.

“This year’s group is simply wonderful,” Walters said. “Everybody brings something different to the department, and there is a huge variety of skills and styles.”
A unique aspect to the class this year is the graffiti project. The beginning project is always a self-portrait, and senior Shane Wille explains the inspiration behind the project.
“The whole idea was more of a spontaneous idea since Mrs. [Cara]Deffenbaugh didn’t like seeing empty walls, so we brought life to those walls,” Wille said.
The students were allowed to let their artistic juices flow and make their projects personal and unique.
“My mural is a self-portrait of myself screaming, inspired by the graffiti artist Billi Kidd,” Walters said. “It is supposed to represent my general frustration with life and school lately. It is a reminder for myself not to take for granted everything I have here that I won’t have a year from now.”
Other students gathered inspiration from graffiti artists but put their own twist on the art.
“My mural was inspired from a couple graffiti artists, but I also kind of went my own way with it,” junior Kelsey Bonini said.
Similarly, Wille incorporated the environment and texture of the walls in the art wing into his project.
“I would describe my mural as just me having fun with it and more inspired by graffiti works that incorporate the environment they are painted on, such as the brick wall setting,” Wille said.
Although boards are being put up to hang artwork that will temporarily cover the art, the graffiti will not be painted over.
“In however many years, when they need to replace the boards again, the workers and students will be able to see our paintings again for a short time period,” Walters said. “I think that’s my favorite thing about the project: it’s both temporary and timeless.”
The other new aspect of AP Art this year is a new Tumblr account, which easily displays their artwork to the student body, family and each other.
“I think the Tumblr idea was just because we wanted to have a website where people could lo

ok at our artwork; and most everyone seems to have a Tumblr these days, so we thought it was a good idea,” Bonini

said.
Another perk of AP Art students publishing their artwork online is for the viewing ability o

f future employers and universities.
“It is great that other kids in school interested in the department can go and look at our stuff,” Walters said. “There’s also the benefit that we each have our own section on the account, so we can easily display our work to various colleges and employers since it’s cohesive and concise.”