Organised in collaboration with Seoul American School, the 1st Annual Invitational Art Exhibition and Contest displayed a majestic parade of diversity and uniqueness led by twelve high school students. As unconventional artists with unbounded liberty given in their hands, the students from two schools freely expressed their individual style of art, ranging from acrylic painting to digital art.
The exhibition was comprised of artworks that emerged from unlimited choices the students were given with for their themes. An artwork by Gloria Sayers from SAS exquisitely portrayed a close-up of a cat, truly appreciating the charm of the animal by using coloured pencils. Each pencil line was drawn elaborately to create a harmony of cat hair. On the other hand, another animal was portrayed but this time with markers. Mina White from SAS conveyed the mystique of the East by adopting some of the Eastern art style, in which green, fluffy clouds were released from the magical eyes of a Red Panda.
Aside from the mystery of the East, expressing a romantic aspect of Eastern culture was an artwork by Yondoo Kim from CDS, who successfully made the viewers feel the subtle fluttering between the Korean couple. Not only did the pine tree covered with snow in the background delivered the beauty of Korean art, but the traditional Korean clothing and fashion style absorbed the viewers into the attractiveness of Joseon Dynasty. Moreover, a scenery of a Western village full of houses with red roofs was illustrated by Alen Park from CDS. The use of acrylic paint was effective in depicting the typical atmosphere of a Western village.
In fact, not all the artworks were created on typical paper or canvas. Sarah Ammons from SAS decided to utilise batik, an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, in order to exhibit the liveliness of an adorned fish, surrounded by glowing lotus flowers and leaves. Out of many unique artworks in the exhibition, one piece showed a rather new, modern feeling. With its smooth texture, an artwork by Daniel Park from CDS employed a digital style, displaying a girl who seemed to have just experienced the pinnacle of her long journey or have realised something that she did not expect to know. Her facial expression is puzzling, which elicits the viewers’ imagination of the context.
What made this exhibition meaningful was the fact that it provided the opportunity to appreciate many students’ unique style of art, not only limited to students of one school but of another school as well, which doubled the viewers’ enjoyment. The 1st Annual Invitational Art Exhibition was absolutely novel and precious, which leaves the 2nd Exhibition that will be held in future with much anticipation and excitement.
ARTIST INTERVIEWS: Haley Mennes & Sarah Ammons
Senior Gallery Reviewer Jinee Park interviewed two participating artists from Seoul American School regarding their work currently featured in the CDS Gallery.
Q) Can you briefly introduce yourself?
H) Hello, My name is Haley Mennes, I am 18 years old ,and am a senior at Seoul American High School.
S) I'm Sarah Ammons, a junior at Seoul American High School.
Q) What is your painting about?
H) My painting is supposed to capture the moment when you feel trapped. A wall that can not be broken down and you have to learn to cope with the reality of never getting to the other side no matter how hard you try. This painting is a self portrait of me coping with feeling trapped.
S) My painting is a batik piece of koi fish and lotus flowers.
Q) Where did you get your inspiration from?
H) My inspiration for this painting came from my teacher. We were given an assignment to create a self portrait depicting ourselves in an uncomfortable situation. This was a topic I was very familiar with. I moved to South Korea this past summer from the states, and transitioning to a different country wasn't easy for me and was very uncomfortable. I felt trapped but I didn't have a choice besides to try and deal with my problems, and this painting represents that. Me trying to cope with the hardships of moving to the other side of the world.
S) I got my inspiration from many batik examples. I looked up many before I got started on mine. My teacher also showed me a video of making a batik. It was more complicated than how I finished mine, but it helped me a lot.
Q) Do you plan to continue making similar artworks like this one?
H) I don't particularly plan to make similar artworks like this one, but I have learned a lot from creating this painting and I will definitely transfer those new techniques into other works of art I create.
S) Yes, I really enjoyed this project. It was something I've never heard or have seen before. I wish to work on more creative mediums like batik.
Q) How do you feel about exhibiting your work at another school, getting to contribute with different people/schools?
H) I love the opportunity to get the chance to share my art with other people and display it alongside so many other great works. That is what art is all about, sharing you talents and trying to get your audience to connect with your creation and feel emotion from it.
S) I am excited and nervous at the same time. It's exciting how people will get to see my work but since I don't know what they will think of it, I'm pretty nervous. I wish to visit the exhibition!
The exhibition was comprised of artworks that emerged from unlimited choices the students were given with for their themes. An artwork by Gloria Sayers from SAS exquisitely portrayed a close-up of a cat, truly appreciating the charm of the animal by using coloured pencils. Each pencil line was drawn elaborately to create a harmony of cat hair. On the other hand, another animal was portrayed but this time with markers. Mina White from SAS conveyed the mystique of the East by adopting some of the Eastern art style, in which green, fluffy clouds were released from the magical eyes of a Red Panda.
Aside from the mystery of the East, expressing a romantic aspect of Eastern culture was an artwork by Yondoo Kim from CDS, who successfully made the viewers feel the subtle fluttering between the Korean couple. Not only did the pine tree covered with snow in the background delivered the beauty of Korean art, but the traditional Korean clothing and fashion style absorbed the viewers into the attractiveness of Joseon Dynasty. Moreover, a scenery of a Western village full of houses with red roofs was illustrated by Alen Park from CDS. The use of acrylic paint was effective in depicting the typical atmosphere of a Western village.
In fact, not all the artworks were created on typical paper or canvas. Sarah Ammons from SAS decided to utilise batik, an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, in order to exhibit the liveliness of an adorned fish, surrounded by glowing lotus flowers and leaves. Out of many unique artworks in the exhibition, one piece showed a rather new, modern feeling. With its smooth texture, an artwork by Daniel Park from CDS employed a digital style, displaying a girl who seemed to have just experienced the pinnacle of her long journey or have realised something that she did not expect to know. Her facial expression is puzzling, which elicits the viewers’ imagination of the context.
What made this exhibition meaningful was the fact that it provided the opportunity to appreciate many students’ unique style of art, not only limited to students of one school but of another school as well, which doubled the viewers’ enjoyment. The 1st Annual Invitational Art Exhibition was absolutely novel and precious, which leaves the 2nd Exhibition that will be held in future with much anticipation and excitement.
ARTIST INTERVIEWS: Haley Mennes & Sarah Ammons
Senior Gallery Reviewer Jinee Park interviewed two participating artists from Seoul American School regarding their work currently featured in the CDS Gallery.
Q) Can you briefly introduce yourself?
H) Hello, My name is Haley Mennes, I am 18 years old ,and am a senior at Seoul American High School.
S) I'm Sarah Ammons, a junior at Seoul American High School.
Q) What is your painting about?
H) My painting is supposed to capture the moment when you feel trapped. A wall that can not be broken down and you have to learn to cope with the reality of never getting to the other side no matter how hard you try. This painting is a self portrait of me coping with feeling trapped.
S) My painting is a batik piece of koi fish and lotus flowers.
Q) Where did you get your inspiration from?
H) My inspiration for this painting came from my teacher. We were given an assignment to create a self portrait depicting ourselves in an uncomfortable situation. This was a topic I was very familiar with. I moved to South Korea this past summer from the states, and transitioning to a different country wasn't easy for me and was very uncomfortable. I felt trapped but I didn't have a choice besides to try and deal with my problems, and this painting represents that. Me trying to cope with the hardships of moving to the other side of the world.
S) I got my inspiration from many batik examples. I looked up many before I got started on mine. My teacher also showed me a video of making a batik. It was more complicated than how I finished mine, but it helped me a lot.
Q) Do you plan to continue making similar artworks like this one?
H) I don't particularly plan to make similar artworks like this one, but I have learned a lot from creating this painting and I will definitely transfer those new techniques into other works of art I create.
S) Yes, I really enjoyed this project. It was something I've never heard or have seen before. I wish to work on more creative mediums like batik.
Q) How do you feel about exhibiting your work at another school, getting to contribute with different people/schools?
H) I love the opportunity to get the chance to share my art with other people and display it alongside so many other great works. That is what art is all about, sharing you talents and trying to get your audience to connect with your creation and feel emotion from it.
S) I am excited and nervous at the same time. It's exciting how people will get to see my work but since I don't know what they will think of it, I'm pretty nervous. I wish to visit the exhibition!
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