GHS Art: Inside Art IV

Interested in behind the scenes of an AP art class at Granbury High School? How do these students bring their passions to life in a competitive environment with such high standards? Check out our interview with Emma Flower below and learn the ins and outs of AP Art IV!

The expectations of an AP art student are high. By the time you’ve reached AP art four, your class size has dwindled to 10-15 students typically. In our class, it’s no different with a whopping 12 students. These students are all extremely talented and have had to work hard to get there, so of course, the expectations are going to be high. It’s not a blow-off class or one you can mess around in. Working diligently and punctually is important because the deadline doesn’t change.

In AP Art IV we work on a project called a sustained investigation- concentrated investigation. We are tasked with completing a body of related works describing an extensive artistic analysis of a particular idea. Essentially it's a process of investigating a specific visual idea and representing it in 15 pieces of art. All of our art can be in whatever medium, size, or style we choose; it is encouraged to have a diverse selection of works.

After each project we complete, we do critiques. Critiques help us see our artwork with new eyes, so we can make it better and express our ideas behind it. We do this using the techniques- Praise, Question, and Polish. We reintroduce our main idea and then explain how our project relates to the idea. Our peers talk about the positives of the artwork- what aspects were strongest. Second, we are asked questions about why we chose to do the project the way we did, for example- why we chose the medium. Lastly, we are given ideas on how we can make our piece better. Critiques are extremely important and helpful, so we can produce our best work by developing it, but also in helping the viewers understand and perceive it.

Emma Flower’s sustained investigation is over how good and evil have shaped her life. The first project she did was over her feelings about being in a new school. She felt like she was in a world that wasn't her own and represented that in weird landscaping. The different kinds of creatures representing how she viewed all of the new unknown people. Emma's most current piece she is working on is supposed to be a statement against the stigma of cartoonish art in the artistic community. She believes that it doesn’t get as much credit as realistic art does.

Emma’s piece with the eye was a work from a previous year; she completed this using colored pencils and paint. The piece with the girl was also from a previous year and was completed using paint, pencil, and pastel. These two realistic pieces took her about a month to complete and are two of her favorites. Emma is good at a lot of mediums but prefers Watercolor the most because she likes creating bright and colorful pieces.

This year of art has set her straight in what she would like to chase as an adult. She explained this year has set apart her hobby from her career path, and she no longer wants to pursue an artistic career. Emma loves art but doesn’t believe it is something that she could do with anything more than free time. As for the class, she likes her classmates, but because of COVID-19, it’s been difficult not having a solid teacher in the classroom, and she dislikes how short our windows are to complete our projects. She wants to produce quality pieces, but typically those take her a month to complete, so for her, the week and a half project windows are too short. Written by Emily Pyles