The Superintendent’s Gallery launched in the Spring of 2021, builds on the long history of exhibitions of student artwork at the Greenwood Administration Building. This community space honors this legacy of student artistic voice and the legacy of leadership in BCPS. The Superintendent’s Gallery features rotating exhibitions of student artwork accompanied by a virtual gallery. The virtual gallery features written and video artist statements from students and can be found on the Office of Visual Arts Website.
This inaugural exhibition features 24 juried student artworks from 18 schools across the district. This is the first physical art exhibition since classroom doors closed in March of 2020, at the start the of global pandemic. As we are reopening schools and classrooms, we are reopening the gallery to possibilities and a better future. The work in this exhibition was completed by students during the 2020-21 school year and reflects their resiliency, creativity, and the power of art to carry us through challenging times. We continue to get through this with art and are happy to officially announce that The Gallery Is Open!
Student Artist: Layla Miller
Teacher: Emily Hall
Title: Black History Month Black Inventors: “Wall of Masks”
The title of my artwork is ‘Wall of Masks’. I thought it would be a good title since the invention I focused on was the gas mask, founded in 1914 by Garrett Morgan. Morgan wanted to make a device aiming towards fire departments, he often did demonstrations of how reliable it is in fires. His device became the prototype and precursor for the gas masks used during World War I, protecting soldiers from toxic gas used in warfare. The invention reminded me of the pandemic we are currently in and how we must wear face masks, so I included that in my portrait to try to show how masks are needed throughout the generations.
In my portrait, I drew myself kneeling and wearing a face mask. I was inspired by a photo of a World War I nurse kneeling and holding a gas mask. I included gas masks by drawing a pile of them behind me, towering over each other. I drew myself using pencil and I used watercolors to do the gas masks.
Student Artist: Allison Glaser
Teacher: Emily Hall
Title: A Salute to Downing’s Mailboxes
The invention I focused on in my piece is the blue mailbox that serves as a place for people to drop off their mail, that is large enough for both packages and letters. The mailbox was invented by Philip B. Downing in 1892. This invention is related to my life because I believe that handwritten letters are one of the loveliest ways to share your heart and mind with a person, no matter if they live down the street or across the globe, there is a certain intimacy and truth that can only be shared through the intentionality of a handwritten letter. As such I frequently use the blue mailboxes to send out gifts and letters to those I love.
My self-portrait portrays the process of using these mailboxes. The silhouette in the center shows the actual process of sitting down and writing a letter. The personal handwritten letters in the background of the piece show the finished letters. Then the scene in the foreground of the piece- letters flying to and from various blue mailboxes- illustrates the actual process of sending and receiving mail. I have included myself both in the personal letters in the background and in the silhouette in the center, which is a depiction of myself. The inventor is likewise included in the work through his signature, copied from the patent of the piece, which I painted onto the foremost mailbox, as if he signed the box like an artist signs her work. The flying mail symbolizes the distance that mail travels to reach their destination, and the whisps that surround these pieces of mail show the movement of the travel. Most of my piece is done in acrylics, which helps it stand apart from the penciled letters in the background, creating a separation so that the words didn’t overwhelm the images in the foreground. To further this goal, I chose bright colors to use in the letters and mailboxes to have them stand out. Lastly, this artwork was influenced by Jean-Michel Basquiat. I drew inspiration from the ways that he used words and images in a way that created a sense of layering. I was also inspired by the way his work seemed both chaotic and coordinated. This is something that I also tried to accomplish in my piece, so that while there are many things going on in the piece, there is a sense of purpose and coordination throughout the work.
Student Artist: Allison Smith
Teacher: Kate Martiyan
Title: Flipped World
Capturing photographs of water environments and experimenting with reflections and angles, like in “Flipped World,” interests me the most. It’s almost like a hunt to find that perfect angle of something you know could make a beautiful artwork. In my process, I start by finding something unique by the water such as a rocky shoreline, broken glass, or colorful plants to incorporate into a water background. Upon arrival at this park, I immediately knew this small sailboat surrounded by nothing but water would make a great background with a cool reflection. However, it was difficult to even get close enough to experiment with different angles from the small pier let alone incorporate interesting items with it. I was able to find an entrance to a small shoreline that went right up to the water and was much closer to the boat. Still, I couldn’t find an angle to make it interesting without getting unnecessary objects in the way. I positioned my lens upside-down almost touching the water to get as close as possible to the boat, took a few, and moved on to find my unique items. However, the results were very plain, and there was nothing unique about it. I decided to experiment with cropping and such when I realized the reflection was almost exactly perfect and had a much more interesting gradience than the regular sky. Turning this photograph upside elevated its appearance immensely and gave it the unique flair I was looking for. I decided to title it “Flipped World” because this process reminded me of how mundane and upside down my life has been at times over the COVID-19 quarantine. However, I still found ways to spice up my life with new hobbies and enjoy the little things with my family even though it wasn’t what I was accustomed to. Things are not always easy especially in photography and life, which is why it’s important to be innovative to find a unique solution.
Student Artist: Jainson Cedillo
Teacher: Anna Gavin
Title: Nescafe, Meet Tapatio
In this drawing, my goal was to explore how my Ecuador and American heritage intersect to create a new, unique culture. I chose to use pantry staples from my every day life to demonstrate how intertwined the two cultures are. Taking inspiration from artist Peter Elsworth, I arranged and photographed my pantry items extensively to get the right lighting and composition. My favorite part of the composition is the reflections on the Tapatio bottle and the shadows and highlights coming from the light behind the still life.
Student Artist: Mason Moore
Teacher: Lindsay Miller
Title: “Pine Sculpture” 2021
Materials: Wooden Cabinet, Picture Frame, Nails, Wood Glue, Cardboard, Masking tape, Printed Imagery, Modge Podge Processes: Destruction, Sculpting, Sanding, Collage, Photoshop
How do I culminate my experiences in nature into physical forms? This investigation began as I interpreted these images from my experiences into textures, patterns, and forms of clay. This evolved over time until I realized that I convey these feelings, emotions, and experiences through imagery translated upon an object. At first, it was simply the image applied to an object as a canvas, but soon transpired into the images being altered into patterns and textures, which encapsulate the rawness and organic flow of the natural world. Soon after my forms began to become more organic flowing with the imagery. This creates an organism of sorts, that one would not come across in nature, but conveys the emotions and feelings behind the event that inspired the work.
Student Artist: Aryanna Thomas
Teacher: Daria Souvorova
Title: Spoon Shift
Human beings judge each other through the scope of their own ideals or through one that has been crafted for them by society. We change ourselves and base our desirability on those ideals. Though we all are aware of these alterations and despise them, we continue to push them onto others and live together in a world of painful bliss.
The contrast of vivid and dull colors and use of unconventional materials within my work showcases the counterintuitive unknown unity within our world. Brighter hues represent how we want others to see us, colorful, full of life, the best version of ourselves based on others' standards. While darker colors reveal the reality of our physical and emotional state, how we suffer in silence and its impact on our psyche. This divide creates a unity amongst us that is ignored or unspoken, the feeling of being unwanted because of our appearance or mental capabilities is something most endure, but we decide to further the division rather than welcome all forms of our peers. Applying other materials to my pieces other than paint or pencil joins them and replicates the harmony that could be present in our society.
Student Artist: Jasmine Jones
Teacher: Shannon Hirsch
Title: Self Portrait
As an artist, being able to illustrate personal perspective through art and allowing your audience to understand and appeal to your artwork is what I believe is one of the most beautiful things about art. The main concept for this Self-Portrait was to communicate visually the feeling of isolation. I was inspired by the negative impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on many individuals lives and personally what I have experienced throughout this pandemic. This work shows the perspective of myself as the model, gazing out of a window, reflecting the limited interactions with the outside world. The shadows and the reflection that are presented in this work help to develop a focal point while also emphasizing the emotion and the connections to the window are the main message of this work. Throughout the rest of my art journey, I plan on continue to create art that I know other individuals can relate to and can share or develop new perspectives with each other.
Student Artist: Shayla Haggerty
Teacher: Joe Gibison
Title: Winter Moon
I used blues and purples to make it look like winter. The colors are meant to radiate from the moon. I like the way it came out. I also tried to make interesting positive and negative spaces in between the branches over the moon. I hope you like it!
Student Artist: Sahara Johnson
Teacher: Kaytee Lurz
Title: The Artsy Extravaganza Doll
Basically my artwork is called the Artsy Extravaganza doll which is just a doll version of me that includes art stuff since that's my main hobby. Additionally, my favorite part is the doll because it looks like me for the most part and the outfit is realistic to what I wear and I just love that part of my artwork.
Student Artist: Natalie Heer
Teacher: Sarah Deacon
Title: Self Portrait with Shoe
Art is my passion. Art is everywhere. When my family and I go to the beach, I scan up and down the shoreline searching for shells to make jewelry, I create sand sculptures, and I design intricate patterns in the sand. I go for walks on the beach early in the morning to watch the sunrise - to see the different oranges, pinks, and reds glowing through the misty film above the ocean waves. Smooth pebbles from the ocean, shards of broken glass, hermit crabs with beady eyes – they are all art.
It’s hard to argue with the idea that the beach is beautiful, but have you ever seen beauty in the darkness? The way a skull has different pieces that jut out and cast shadows against the off-white color of bone, the deep crimson color of blood staining clothing? The awe of watching a spider weaving its silvery web into octagons, circles, crosses, and other organic forms – a net for prey but also for raindrops that will reflect the light.
What inspires me? Contrast. The passion in anger, the gentleness in evil, the health in illness. Fair skinned women with dark eyes and hair, illusions of sun dresses and innocent blouses hiding an unnerving truth.
Student Artist: Annalyce Brown
Teacher: Farrell Maddox
Title: My Self Portrait
We studied how artists use observation as well as measuring techniques to create a portrait that captures the personality of an individual with accurate proportions. Practice improves our ability to be more accurate in our observations.
Student Artist: Jayden Helmick
Teacher: Farrell Maddox
Title: Winter Birds
Artists can capture the beauty of nature. We observed local winter birds using Jamboard in order to create a winter composition. We studied observation techniques to improve our drawing skills.
Student Artist: Penelope Naden
Teacher: Sam Tillman
Title: Squint
This illustration is a modern balancing act between a casual young man dressed in soft comfortable clothes walking next to a high-tech building with stark shapes and angles. The man is at once drawn to the light, but also pushed back by the sun. He must “squint” to continue his journey.
Student Artist: Ruben Francis Aquino
Teacher: Becky Meiller McCullagh
Title: Two Guys
There are times in our lives that we are conflicted or lost in our own thoughts. With the pandemic affecting everyone, it’s given all of us a good deal of time to get caught up in our own minds. I sometimes feel as though I am living two different lives with two different personalities with the virtual world that we were forced into. Often, I feel as though I have my “head in the clouds” where this reality that we live in seems almost surreal. This makes it difficult to understand the gravity of decisions that are made for things like education and relationships especially when you cannot see and interact with those people the way we used two around a year ago. This makes a lot of us feel trapped and isolated, surrounded by a infinite ocean with no resting point, stuck on a tiny boat in the middle of a deep abyss.
Student Artist: Danica Harrer
Teacher: Caitlin Kambic
Title: Extend
I’m a person who has lots of goals and interests so I drew myself reaching out. I drew myself looking directly at the viewer because I’m very social and like to talk to people.
Student Artist: Emma Flagg-Castro
Teacher: Sasha Harter
Title: Art
I chose the word “Art” because art has always been something that was very important to me. Not only does the word have a personal connection to me, I also felt if I could use a word that has less letters and would take up less space I would be able to detail my hands more. I do believe the foreground does express my word to the viewer because I have evidence of different pieces of art styles and art forms so that any artist whether they draw, paint, sculpt, do photography or any other media can connect with the piece. In my artwork I used different art media to help accentuate the hands.
Student Artist: Cailyn Sydnor
Teacher: Jayme Rodriguez
Title: Self Portrait
In my artwork, I drew myself sitting in front of the window holding a pencil. I drew myself at an angle to show I wasn't entirely focused on the camera, but on myself and my thoughts. As my prop, I included a pencil because I enjoy drawing and it shows I'm in deep thought with the pencil resting on my chin. My setting includes my living room/dining room because right now that is my environment that I am comfortable in and I started to draw most of my artworks there. I wanted the lighting to be on my right side and slowly transition to my left side. The angle I picked was more of an interesting angle, at a sort of side view. I wanted to do something different with my angle. Lastly, my background includes parts of my neighborhood. I choose to draw all of this because I do usually draw by a window, so this is a little look into my life.
The charcoal pencils I used was the 6B, 4B, little bit of the 2B, I used the white charcoal pencil too and a little bit of the vine for the background. For me being able to accurately get the proportions correct, I used the photo on my phone, and I marked up/grid the photo to see where certain facial features would go. Instead of going straight into charcoal, I used a drawing pencil to lightly sketch myself so I knew what I was doing when I would go in with the charcoal. To also help with highlights, I used a kneed eraser and the white charcoal pencil.
In this drawing, I was trying to communicate that behind me is a window of possibilities, anything that you put your mind to (the pencil is on my chin to represent thinking of what I can do/draw), you are able to do it. When I included my pencil into the photo, it also showed that I am able to draw anything. My goals for this artwork were to make accurate proportions and excel on my mark making. I do believe that I have achieved my goal because when I looked back at my photo, I was able to tell that it was me. At the end, I was very happy with the results of the artwork.
Thank you for viewing this exhibition and we hope you have enjoyed the artwork. Please visit our art gallery website for more virtual exhibitions and information about Visual Arts programs in Baltimore County Public Schools.
For any questions about this exhibition or any other, please contact the BCPS Office of Visual Arts at 443-809-4030.