By: Amy Flis <[email protected]>

Senior Joshua Barthuly
Why did you decide to take AP Studio Art?
I’ve taken art throughout high school. It’s something I’ve always loved to do. I took drawing 1 through 6 so then the only place you can go after that is AP Studio Art. It’s just a nice relaxing time, something different than every other class.

What do you like best about art?
Probably the ability to express yourself. That and the finished product, just stepping back and seeing that you created something beautiful.

Over the years, how do you think your style has developed or evolved?
It was really tight and controlled before, and I thought that was the only type of art, photo-realism—that’s what I was striving for. Then, when I started with charcoal, I really started to loosen up because I was forced to, and I hated it. I didn’t think it was real art, but now I think it’s great. You can be more expressive.

How does art influence your life outside of class?
It’s a way to vent emotions, and also it’s a good feeling to have people just enjoy your artwork or like seeing it. Some people might have trouble putting down on paper what they’re feeling sometimes, so it’s good when an artist can do that for them.

Why do you create art?
Why does anybody do something that’s not mandatory or required of them? I just enjoy art.

Do you plan to go on in art?
I’m not sure. If I’m going to do art, I’ll probably minor.

Did you pick a theme for you show?
In AP Studio Art, you have to pick a theme for your portfolio, and mine is light, and that can mean many things, of course. For my show I don’t have a solid theme because it’s a compilation of stuff I’ve done throughout the years so it’s just a sampling of what I’ve done in the past.

What’s your favorite piece in the show?
That’s a hard one. Can I say I don’t have a favorite?

Well, one that stands out as exceptional?
I probably like this one—the Canadian landscape, because it was the first pastel that I ever tried to do and I think it turned out pretty nicely.

What subject do you most like to paint?
I like to have a pretty landscape in the background, but I like to create a scene with the whole thing, so I like to have humans in it as well. Also, I like to make a point with my artwork so that you have to think about what it’s about when you look at it.

How do you put yourself into your artwork?
It’s kind of how art really is, your own emotion reflected onto the page.

Senior Margaret “Margo” Simms
What do you love about art?
It’s just a release. It’s calming. For some people, listening to music or reading is calming. For me, it’s drawing or painting.

How long have you been into art?
It started in junior high. Everyone had to take the art class in seventh grade, and that’s when I really started to fall in love with it. Now it’s a life passion and I want my life to be involved with art forever.

Do you plan to study art in college?
I’m going to Herron at IUPUI. I’m going for art education.

Beyond college, do you want to do anything else with art besides teach?
Teaching is really nice in that you teach during the school year, but during the summer you can follow your own direction with your art. Hopefully I can get myself out there and do a couple art shows and stuff like that.

What do you like best about art?
Everything. Learning how to do new things, learning new techniques. Like this year, I’ve grown a lot as an artist. With art, you’re always learning new things. There’s always a new and exciting thing around the corner.

Why did you decide to do the senior showcase?
It’s a requirement for the class. It was a lot of fun. I’m selling three pieces. It’s a good way to get your name out there and have that experience.

Which piece is your favorite that you’ve done so far?
Oh, man, that’s hard. I have a lot. There’s one that I really like that I did the first six week in Independent Study. It’s of a guy screaming, but you can only see half of his face. I was very angry that day so I tried to put my emotion out onto the paper and it turned out really well. I love it.

Where does your inspiration come from?
I mostly do portraits, so if I see a cool picture of a portrait, I’ll work on that. And during church, I draw my sister all the time. My sister is absolutely gorgeous. I did that on Sunday this week actually. I spend the whole time in church just drawing my sister. I like to draw my sister a lot. She’s my main subject most of the time.

To budding artists, do you have any advice for them?
Keep going. Even if your teacher isn’t supportive of what you’re doing, just keep going because it’s so worth it. Be passionate about it no matter what people think. It’s your art so do what you want.

What makes it so worth it?
It’s just a great feeling to complete something and just thinking “Wow, I can’t believe that came out of me.” It’s just an awesome feeling.

Senior Ryan Gilliland
How did you first get into art?
I don’t know really. I’ve been drawing my entire life, and in high school I just took Drawing 1 and got better at drawing. I continued with more classes and learned to love it.

What do you like best about art?
Just the creativity. You can go and sit anywhere and just draw whatever you want. A couple times I’ve been sitting in Starbucks and just drawn people and they don’t even know it. I guess I like how free it is, that you can do whatever you want.

What have you learned from AP Studio Art?
I haven’t really learned any techniques in AP Studio Art. What it’s more for is teaching me what college is going to be like because I plan on going to an arts college. It’s taught me more about how I need to be prepared and how I’ll need to work and focus to create enough work in a short amount of time.

What piece do you think is your best piece?
My best piece is probably a series of three portraits I did. They’re graphite drawings, and they’re probably what I’m best at—pencil portraits. That’s just because I’ve been doing that the longest. Other than that, I have a charcoal piece, a large-scale charcoal portrait, and I think that’s probably my best.

What makes that your best?
It’s really loose but really accurate at the same time. The style is done very loosely, but the proportions and the depiction of the person are real.

Do you like to put a message into your art?
I’ve tried that. I don’t really like it. In some of my paintings, you can just tell what kind of attitude I had while I was painting it like I did several acrylic paintings for the show that were actually done in a span of like two days in class because I was feeling really pressured and didn’t want to do anything, so I just painted these African abstracts and now they’re some of my favorite paintings.

Why did you decide to put on the senior show?
It’s a part of the AP Studio Art class requirements to do it, and it was just really cool because it gives people a chance to go out and see my work because usually I just keep it in my room.

Are you proud of the collection you put together?
Yeah, I’m proud of the work I’ve done so far, but I think I’m always going to be unsatisfied with what I am doing, just because I know I can always do better.

Do you put yourself into your artwork?
I’m trying to develop my own style, like this drawing I’m working on right now. It’s really individual, I think. I’m trying to develop it so that people will see it and go, “Oh, that’s Ryan’s.”