Inspirational High School Painting Projects: Portraiture

Terminal Updated on Feb 8, 2017

This is the kind of high school art project that makes yous take hold of your breath. Information technology is the work of Grace Pickford, a Year 13 student from Pukekohe High School, Auckland. Grace's NCEA Level 3 Painting folio (the equivalent of A Level Fine art) was awarded Excellence, Scholarship and Top in New Zealand for Painting, 2011. There's no other style to say information technology: it's amazing.

Grace'south submission: iii x A1 NCEA Art boards

Grace begins with material that is fraught with difficulty: photographs taken by others. Grace'southward photographs, all the same, are not flat, second-paw images: they are the subject. They are the essence of a still life; rich in their imperfections, creases, stains and tears. They are a tiny collection of memory: a depiction of something that was before and has now been imbued with layers of time.

Grace's work is a reminder that gaining an exceptional result is not but about meeting learning objectives, showing development or demonstrating a high level of technical skill (although Grace excels in all of these areas): information technology'southward about communicating something that really matters. It'southward about making fine art.

I was lucky plenty to interview Grace about her painting projection. Her responses are below.

Sculpture or installations tin can be used to drive forward NCEA Painting lath ideas. Here Grace has cropped quondam family unit photographs and projected them onto sheets (using an OHP). This installation is then photographed and, using Photoshop , overlaid with images of branches to reference family unit trees.

Amiria: Your art project explores what happens to our memories of a person following their expiry, and how – like photographs – these fade, stain and become 'discoloured' over time. What made you choose this theme?

Grace: I've always loved my family'due south one-time albums and place actress value on the ones that have been damaged over time, and at the beginning of the year I decided on a theme that expresses the mixed emotions these quondam photographs provoked in me. It took a lot of thinking and analysing these photographs as well as questioning my parents about the people they depicted, earlier I understood the hidden thoughts I had virtually them that have ever attracted me to them. I discovered that it's the fact that all the people in the photos no longer be, and the overwhelming fact that one solar day I no longer will either. Memories are all that remain after a person passes and in a style go along them alive, as memories fade and photographs deteriorate, so does the final part of a person's existence.

This oil painting of photographs (above left) depicts non just the photographed images, merely the cord used to hang the photographs, shadows created behind the photographs, blurred images and torn edges. Information technology is an first-class example of how to best arroyo second-paw imagery. Grace begins her project with monochrome paintings, using oil on paper-thin that has been prepared with gesso . This allowed her to focus on refining her control of oil paint without the added distraction of colour. This approach is peculiarly valid given that Grace's subject is centred around the exploration of anile photographs.

Amiria: Prior to completing this project, you described yourself as a sketcher, with piffling interest in painting. You lot are clearly now an exceptional painter, with work that is deemed the best of all NCEA Level 3 Painting students in New Zealand in 2011. What tips or communication do you take for those who have difficulty painting and are more confident with drawing?

Grace: For me the transition into painting was probably quite different to most because I started in black and white and too went directly to painting in oils. The attribute of painting I originally found hard was working quickly while also mixing colour afterward colour, so in painting in black and white oils I had all the time I wanted (every bit oils dry slowly) also as focusing on detail and tone rather than color (which I had little interest in at the time). Once I became confident in painting, I took the step into colour and was just sure to be patient with myself when mixing colours and slowly became more confident with that also.

Captured in time, these dated snapshots have been depicted with [painted] burnt eroding edges, fading away.

Amiria: Your piece of work contains a good balance of tightly refined, realistic areas with those that are more abstract. Talk through the advantages of this approach, in terms of both practical and aesthetic considerations.

Grace: Because I like painting in a realistic fashion, I knew I had to exist conscientious to still express concepts and ideas through my art, and avoid my work but being seen as 'copies' of images without provoking any thoughts in the viewer. To visually express my ideas about fading memories, and memories being damaged or covered in some way I juxtaposed realistic areas with blurring and areas that looked like stains or mistakes, besides equally blurred areas and areas of i colour.

Amiria: Which artists did you report as part of your project and how did these influence your work?

Grace: I was interested in Christian Boltanski'south concepts. He expresses ideas near memories and death but avoids any sentimentality in his piece of work, I found his views and ideas around these subjects interesting as he addressed them without fearfulness and ignored the taboo club unremarkably places on death-despite the fact that it is a natural function of life.

Other artists that influenced my work both visually and conceptually were New Zealand artist Barry Ross Smith, as he looked at the human relationship between photography and painting, and Pedro Matos.

In the center of her NCEA Level 3 Painting board, Grace begins to actually hit her stride. Here her projection lifts from the excellent to the depict-dropping extraordinary. These carefully rendered portraits accept painted stains seeping over them, connecting the unfaltering gaze of the viewer with those who have gone before.

A great example for NCEA Painting Scholarship students also equally A Level Art students, this work combines both highly realistic elements with blurred abstract marks.

Grace's projection is filled with astonishing oil paintings of people: this one (along with the 2 below) probably cinched her Top in New Zealand placing. It's hard to believe this work was completed by an xviii year onetime.

Amiria: Your project includes a very subtle and considered use of color, with many pieces entirely black and white. Please talk to me about the idea process behind this.

Grace: I've ever been attracted to images that rely solely on tone and lighting rather than colour, I retrieve it was more than a subconscious preference rather than a thought process I went through. Notwithstanding I think the reason I've always loved black and white images is that they add together another layer of separation between the viewer and the piece of work, reminding them that what they are seeing is simply a representation of something that exists. This separation reminds me of the same feeling I become when looking at an old photograph, be it in colour or non, because that moment is captured notwithstanding all we have of it is a representation, giving it an 'untouchable' quality.

Working with the confidence of a successful contemporary artist, Grace begins the conscientious and considered integration of colour.

Amiria: What advice do you have for other high school art students who are hoping to attain excellent grades?

Grace: I think with a subject like painting, or any art bailiwick, it'southward of import for you equally the artist to love what yous are creating. If you discover it visually pleasing and accept an idea you are interested in and feel the need to express then the piece of work you produce will reflect this. Information technology's likewise important to understand that not everyone has to love what you are creating, it's good non to get to doubtful because of people's different tastes or to get distracted by other peoples work. Talk to your teacher every bit much as possible about ideas and artists they recommend you to await at, equally they understand the marking criteria better than anyone. However follow your gut when it comes to the bigger decisions (or at least attempt compromise if your teacher and your gut are telling you unlike things) you are the one who will spend hours on your boards so brand sure you are staying on a path you lot're passionate about, putting in the time needed will seem easier this way.

Flawlessly equanimous, this oil painting contrasts fully rendered form with flat, grey areas of line. Here Grace continues the exploration of photographic remnants: picking and choosing which part of the story we see remember and which role nosotros tell. Maybe my favourite work from the all-time NCEA Painting board in NZ, 2011: beautiful.

The last section of Grace'due south portfolio was inspired past the exceptional artwork of young Lisbon creative person Pedro Matos (you can run across a gallery of his artwork here).

In an historic period when art students are encouraged to be inventive and experimental with mixed media, Grace instead makes it expect similar she is working with mixed media, past using oil pigment in a realistic style to depict layers of torn and peeling paper (these torn edges link visually with those shown on Board 1, helping to unite the submission). A stunning NCEA Painting Level 3 exemplar.

NCEA Level 3 Art: you would never guess that the ripped layers of paint in this piece of work are a painted illusion. A symbolic ripping away of time and peeling through memories, these pieces are a fitting conclusion to Grace'due south outstanding projection.

Grace Pickford is a name you should remember. Currently studying at Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design, she is gear up to achieve great things.

If you lot would like to view more outstanding pupil artwork, please view our Featured Art Projects.

Amiria has been an Art & Design instructor and a Curriculum Co-ordinator for seven years, responsible for the form design and assessment of student work in ii high-achieving Auckland schools. She has a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, Bachelor of Architecture (First Form Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Pedagogy. Amiria is a CIE Accredited Fine art & Pattern Coursework Assessor.

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Source: https://www.studentartguide.com/featured/high-school-painting-projects-portraiture

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