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By Casey Donovan '21 Ana, a senior at TA, is a skilled student who excels in the arts both in the classroom and outside of school. Ana pursues several different art forms including music, painting, drawing, and digital art. Keep reading to learn about her inspirations, motivations, and progress as an artist! Ana has been exploring art for most of her life and was young when she “got hooked on cartoons,” enjoying things like “really old black and white Disney stuff, looney toons, and things we all grew up on like Phineas & Ferb or Danny Phantom.” Cartoons and comics continue to be some of Ana’s biggest inspirations as they “pushed me to want to draw my own characters and find a way to engage in those universes. As I got a little older and had more internet access, finding [fan] communities where I could share my art and express it in a way that others would engage with made me realize how much I enjoyed creating messages for others in my work.” Ana’s driving force behind her work comes from “having something for myself… Music is all about performance, but with art, I can perform for myself. Also, connecting art to more productive and lucrative things has helped keep me interested a lot, I've been doing commissions for over half a year now and have even branched out to painting sneakers and various items… There's also a nostalgic element behind art, specifically drawing, that I'll never be able to let go of.” Ana has faced obstacles as an artist such as learning about the world of commissioned art. “When you're doing a commission you really want to—have to, get it right. Trying to portray someone else's internal thoughts or images is a very intimidating thing for me,” she says. Nevertheless, Ana continues to improve herself as an artist and put copious amounts of effort into her work. “I'll confess that often stress burns me out, but sometimes art is a nice pick-me-up,” explains Ana. Ana sees art as “something I'll always do in some way or form.” Her achievements as an artist exhibit her dedication and evident passion for the arts. Ana’s creative contributions to TA will continue to inspire other artists and remind students of how important it is to explore your interests and look for inspiration in every aspect of your life.
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Look around! You may be walking among one of the winners of the Scholastic Art Awards, the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition award for creative students. This February, some of Thornton Academy's very talented art students have received the Scholastic Art Awards for their incredible artworks. INK Magazine is honored to be featuring them. Once again, congratulations to all that have won the award! First up is Virginia Bradford, an incredible photographer with the piece Double Punch which won her the Gold Key award.  "Double Punch" by Virginia Bradford '19 “I did my piece over the summer for no particular reason, since I wanted to do some 80s-style makeup. It was supposed to be pretty intense, with the makeup inspired by Siouxsie and the Banshees, and a punching bag in the barn. One of the photos showed a kind of “tough” emotion and the other a more relaxed emotion, and I edited it to show both at the same time, as I figured I could use the final product for my art portfolio. This is my second time winning a Scholastic Award, but my first time getting a Gold Award, and it’s pretty nice to get recognition for your work”, Virginia shared the inspiration behind this work. Next up, we have another Gold Key winner, Anna Bruner, with her mesmerizing photograph Summer Day.  "Summer Day" by Anna Bruner '19 Anna also shares the story behind Summer Day with us, providing an insight into her process of creating art: "My photograph “Summer days”, was less planned and more spontaneous. I have a pool behind my house and I invited my friend Ellie Mason over to swim. When Ellie was at my house she showed me an underwater camera she’d probably bought at Walmart. It was one of the disposable cameras. We spent the day taking pictures of each other jumping, diving, and sinking. I asked her to just float because I like that imagery. I see it a lot in movies. Anyway, we got the film developed and I noticed the color that was on the sides of the image. I believe this is because I didn’t fully turn the knob on the camera so part of the border film was captured. It looks edited but it’s just a part of the image. I didn’t add it into my AP Portfolio until around when the AP studio art class applied for the scholastic art and writing competition. I guess I didn’t consider myself enough of a photographer, since I consider myself an illustrator or painter first. I have an Instagram called: anna_the_artsy with my art if the readers would be interested. Winning the Gold Key for my photograph was a moment of pride and confusion. It opened a door for a possibility of photography. As I said before photography wasn’t quite what I was known for among my art friends. But, it was cool to go the exhibit and seeing a full scale print of my photograph and people walking up and seeing it. It’s always nice to have hard work recognized. I hope that I’ll be able to keep having those moments of pride. I’m glad that the photograph that I was awarded the gold key for was of a friend close to my heart." It is a truly rewarding moment when your work is recognized, and you deserve it! Moving on, we have the beautiful painting House in the Primary of Cordelia Perry, the work which wins her the Silver Key award.  "House in the Primary" by ​Cordelia Perry '19 This painting is aesthetic, colorful, light and bright. Cordelia did a great job expressing her feelings and memories through this lovely piece. The texture is so tasty you can feel the painting coming to life. And then, Virginia strikes again, this time even harder and the Art Portfolio Time Travel got her the Silver Key as a second award. She is ready to conquer the world of art!  "Time Travel" by Virginia Bradford '19 Well this may not be the Gold Key piece, but I actually like it even more than her other work! Last but not least, talented artist Megan Bainbridge with the amazing work Let’s Get This Breadth wins the Honorable Mention prize for Art Portfolio:  "Let's Get This Breadth" by Megan Bainbridge '19 “I’m very thankful to have received a Scholastic Arts award for my portfolio submission. The piece I had on display is titled “Glossy Lips” and was inspired by the Instagram makeup artist Daryna Barykina (instagram@daryna_barykina). After seeing her macro photos of lips, I decided to photograph my own lips up close with varying sparkles, glosses, and lipsticks. After selecting my favorite image, which only featured a clear lipgloss, I used watercolor to create the piece. My focus in creating this piece was to exaggerate the texture and highlight of a pair of lips. My intention was to make a familiar body part initially appear unfamiliar. I’m also very thankful for the help I received from my AP Studio Art teacher. Ms. Thomas aided everyone in the class with submitting their artwork to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.”, Megan shares with us.
This piece puts life into the alphabet, giving each letter a meaning and this is truly admirable art. I can't wait to see more of Megan's work in the future, as clearly there is something very unique about her style and technique in art. Congratulations to all the artist that win the Maine Scholastic Art Awards! We are very proud of you and you are all amazing. We hope that you will continue to make arts and make this world a more beautiful place! By Grace Hooper ‘22 and Izzie Roughton ‘22, Staff Writers
Interview by Matt Kolessar '19 & Monica Gao '19  Adella Page is well-known to the INK staff, having had her work published consistently since her freshman year. A senior, Adella's artistic focus is now on her pottery, but her drawings & photos showcase her talents as well. Listen to Adella talk about her journey as an artist! Lucy Freeman has been sewing since 8th grade and active in the Thornton Academy Players as a costume designer. You have seen her work on stage in a variety of shows including Pride & Prejudice, Mary Poppins, The Tempest & Our Town.
Check out Lucy discussing her craft and her passion for costuming!
TA senior Ray Cheplic sits down with INK music writer Avalon Fedder to talk about his music, his band, and his inspirations in this SPOTLIGHT interview. With his trademark sense of humor, Ray shares the beginnings of his musical career - at the age of five, you could find him drumming on empty coffee cans in his mom's kitchen. Ray also reveals his inspiration - the belief that music can be a source of positive change. I get to play loud and fast. But then soft and slow. Then I get to be LOUD. It's fun.
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About SpotlightINK's Spot to highlight the individual talents of students who stand out in our literature and arts community. Know of someone who should be spotlighted? Email us suggestions. Archives
December 2019
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