By Nancy Dahal ‘28

Once again, the AP Studio Art class has brought us an incredible show. The Season of the Witch, a magnificent showcase featuring works by a multitude of students, took place prior to this Halloween in the Kirby Center for Creative Arts featuring works by a multitude of students. From beautiful paintings to charcoal sketches and everything in between, this diverse and astounding display is truly a testament to the hard work of all of the artists involved. 

Though the students dedicated much of their time to their pieces, none of this would have been possible without the instruction of their teacher Ms. Ayers. With her expertise, students have been able to create created works that are both beautiful to look at and technically brilliant. From incredible self portraits to stunning landscapes and focused objects, the show contains a diverse display of subjects and matters – yet, they are all tied by the amount of skill and precision required to create each one. Fitting into the theme, Elsie Salesky ‘28 described her beautiful painting of a beautiful fiddle which she describes “My piece in the show is an acrylic painting of a violin. It was inspired by a piece the orchestra is playing called ‘Witches’ Fiddle,’ and in it, I tried to capture the highlights of the violin and the shadows which fade into the background, creating what I hope is a spooky and realistic painting.”

As well as an extensively thought out and executed process, many of the works contain deep and personal themes relevant to the artist. Some may be objects that the artist admired and others may feature locations that resonate sentimentally. Regardless of subject matter, all of the pieces are incredibly thought provoking! Ashmary Cummings ‘27 painted a wonderful rendition of a woman playing the violin pictured above. “Our show’s guiding theme was ‘Witch’s Fiddle’ and I think most other artists played into the spooky, more Halloween aspect of that theme. Nothing wrong with that, I just wanted to explore something different. I was really inspired by Stevie Nicks, and how she’s frequently called the white witch. I wanted to portray that idea of magic without mainstream imagery. The kind of magic that happens when you can create music from nothing but your instrument. Working with the oil pastels was really fun, nothing a medium I’m super familiar with, so it was nice to explore how things blend and move. It was a very hands on process, I’d use my fingers for smudging and detailing. Overall I’m pretty happy with the piece, it was fun to do,” She explained.

Across all of the different works at the showcase, the AP Art Class has clearly put a copious amount of much hard work into these projects. All of these efforts certainly do show in the display, which is a recommendation for all students to go admire. The entire SEM community should all look forward to what these artists have to bring in the future as well as they move forward and onto new horizons!