2005 Award Winners

I have always wondered whether the art on display in a gallery could ever invoke the same feeling in the viewer as they gaze upon it as the artist had in the creation of it. I speak not only of the hard work put into the piece, but the idea behind it, the one that inspired the artist to make it and call it art. I believe there are two sides to each work that is on display. What is on the surface to be stared at, and the creation of it. To me, art is a personal experience as well as one to be appreciated. In creating something, my goal is always to make something beautiful or striking, and yet I find that the actual work I do to reach that goal is more satisfying than the finished product. Also, when I visit a museum, I truly enjoy looking for a meaning, a background, or a connection with the piece and the world it was created in.

Making something tangible from a simple inspiration brings me back down to earth, grounding all the chaos of life and making everything seem right. My mind engages in it completely, giving in to the quiet scraping of a brush against canvas or the scratching roll of lead on paper, curving, shaping, outlining, and shading that imitation of life. I cannot say everything I draw or paint gives me such a feeling, but when it does, I realize that that is why I need art in my life. It will loyally stay with me forever, and I feel that I need it as well as the experience it gives me to be the person I want to be.

Sophomore year, Mrs. Joyce assigned an art project with which my studio class would be engaged in for four months. We were to create a box with a theme, to apply a list of appropriate media to them, such as photographs, acrylic paint, sequins, buttons, and any other random things we found, and combine them all into a montage. The box also had to have three holes, each showing the crafty things we could use to adorn the interior. The only uniform factor required of us was that all of the boxes had to be approximately the same size. I felt that I could really take this project and make it into something enjoyable. I was going to make the best box anyone had ever seen, and I chose a theme which I would be able to entwine around myself. With "Russian folk tales" as my subject I painted warriors in ancient Slavic armor, a Firebird, a troika" of magnificent horses pulling a bear in a sleigh, a monkey with a violin, and Ivan Tsarevitch with his love escaping on a golden steed. These stories represented my childhood, for when we still lived in Moscow my mother would read them to me, and I now remember them fondly. Perhaps because it meant so much to me, or because it felt right, I put all of my heart into creating this box. I took it home to work on, adding details, cutting out the holes, and inserting the mirrors that would stare at you staring at them inside the box. I still remember the meditative feeling and the absence of time when I was painting. I thought about it, loved it, loathed it, let it take over me, and then let it go as I finished and halted the process.

Although the career I wish to pursue deals with the sort of art that has already been made, art history allows me to study the motives behind each art movement, and will in turn help me understand my own aesthetic intentions in a deeper sense. Because I enjoy studying culture and the world around me as much as I enjoy drawing, painting, and sculpting, I believe that I can combine the two in researching works of art for a museum, or possibly restoring and conserving them. This sort of career will allow me to travel and meet new people, see new places, taste foreign foods, and experience the very best this world can offer. These are my plans as of now, and given time they may be subject to change. However, no matter what I decide to do, art will always be a part of my life, keeping my feet on the ground and my face to the world.