In celebration of Youth Arts Month, members of the Board of Education marked the opening of the Patricia B. O’Neill Student Art Gallery. The inaugural installation features artwork created by students from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.
Learn more about some of the pieces.
Isabella Avena, Sophomore
Titled, “Till Death”, this work was created for an assignment about pieces in conversation. I wanted to make something that shows the love that exists even after death. The larger, encompassing green figure is full of life, wrapped around the smaller, skeleton-esque figure in a loving embrace. Even in death, the white figure remains smooth and pretty as that is how they will be remembered.
Rocky Ben-Yehuda, Sophomore
For this piece, I wanted to incorporate classic Jōmon techniques, such as additive coil work, while not only making the piece well-built but also making it personal to me. I achieved this through coil-building the vessel without an electric wheel, and made it personal to me by drawing design inspiration from a patterned childhood tablecloth that my parents got as a wedding gift and still use to this day. As for the glaze work, I decided to leave the extruded coil additions unglazed to let the raw clay truly speak for itself and be texturally diverse.
Zofia Czebiniak, Sophomore
Titled “Comfort”, these sculptures are in conversation as the larger one, symbolizing a parent or mother figure, creates a shelter or cushion for its young one as it slowly begins to enter the world and evolve into a more complex being. The way the two pieces fit together while also being able to separate, represents how youth may sometimes need the support of their parents while also needing to distinguish and sustain themselves to be their own person. The pattern covering the egg-shaped sculpture and crawling up the side of the larger, swirly sculpture represents the bond between parent and child created at birth, and also how both individuals are unique but share certain similar qualities or features.
Ayoola Gbadebo, Junior
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My piece takes its inspiration from the Dogū of Jōmon Period Japan circa 14,000-400 BC. Traditionally, the Dogū were hand built figurines characterized by their decoration through coil work in their Earthenware form. To achieve this, I used a couple of techniques I’ve acquired from years in the class. The form was mostly coil built with pinch pots to serve as its limbs. The Dogū were believed to be used for ritualistic purposes, such as fortune and fertile land. And I drew from those aspects by designing a figure that would be representative of my people – the African Diaspora. Mami Wata, The Water Spirit known by many names is widely revered in African Mythology as Mother, goddess of prosperity and possessor of the gift of life. She is depicted as a woman or Siren with Pythons wrapped around her form. I tied this to her, not only through the African inspired patterns on its body, but through the feathers on its crown, representing her ties to waterfowl, and of course the Serpent coil with the Chobachon as a marking on its head. And, final touches are added with red iron oxide stains to give it that signature each look.
Christian Glover, Junior
This piece was constructed by stacking multiple different sized vessels and sealing them together. Although I have been working with composite forms, this one was an experiment and a challenge for me in the way that it was originally constructed as two separate pieces each intended to be their own individual piece. The decorative finish was inspired by traditional Greek pottery as well as my grandma’s blue and white couch.
You can also explore the full gallery online and experience these exceptional student creations.
Read the original article at mcps