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BEACON FALLS — The ten artists whose work is featured in the above slideshow are Woodland High School’s AP Two-Dimensional Design and AP Drawing and Painting students.
Rather than taking a comprehensive written exam subsequent to their completion of the courses, these students will submit portfolios of their work for grading by the AP board.
These portfolios must comprise 29 pieces of work: the quality section, in which a student showcases five pieces of his of her best work; the breadth section, where the student must show their versatility in a variety of media; and the concentration section, in which the artist must demonstrate his or her proficiency in dealing with a certain subject, be it cars, flowers, human portraits, etc.
Kristen Lengyel, their instructor, has taught art at Woodland for five years and started out at Long River Middle School. She holds a B.F.A. in Photography and a B.S. in Special Education from Green Moutain College and an M.F.A. in photography from the University of Hartford.
Three of the AP students, Englund, Albright, and Park focus on drawing and painting while the remaining seven deal chiefly with photography. Woodland Art Department head Susan Lewis said this mixed atmosphere is a healthy environment for an artist — “…they have a lot to learn from each other in terms of composition, light and shadow,” and other basic elements of artistic design and execution, she said.
Following are brief profiles on each of Lengyel’s ten AP students.
Lindsay Walsh
Age/Class: 16/Senior
Future plans: Lindsay plans to attend college with a major in business.
Inspiration: She is inspired by “rare, simple, and colorful photography.” She first got interested in the form when she took the Photo 1 class.
Favorite medium: Digital photography, graphic design
Artistic style: “I take a lot of leading lines and short-depth photos. I also like playing around with colorizing in Photoshop. I love taking pictures of things in nature and outdoors like flowers, trees, etc.”
Kelly Smith
Age/Class: 17/Senior
Future plans: Kelly plans to attend college with majors in education and psychology.
Inspiration: She is inspired by “the photography, art, and printmaking of Andy Warhol.”
Favorite medium: Conventional photography
Artistic style: “I love nature photography and shooting outside — I’m also starting to experiment with models”
Olivia Zlamany
Age/Class: 17/Senior
Future plans: Olivia is applying early to Brown University and hopes to also study at the Rhode Island School if Design.
Inspiration: She is inspired by her aunt Brenda Zlamany, a Brooklyn painter and Emily Thorne and Joey Comeau, the photographer and writer, respectively, of the webcomic “A Softer World”
Favorite medium: Photography, collage, multimedia
Artistic style: “I love colors and flowing lines, but also bold, defined work. It really depends on the subject and the image or idea that I’m trying to portray.”
Jason Woodin
Age/Class: 18/Senior
Future plans: Jason plans to go to college but isn’t sure yet where or what he wants to study.
Inspiration: He is inspired by “many different musical artists” as well as portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz.
Favorite medium: Digital and conventional photography
Artistic style: Not indicated
Rachel Englund
Age/Class: 17/Senior
Future plans: Rachel plans to attend Central Connecticut State University on a track to become an art teacher.
Inspiration: “I’ve always liked to draw. If I see something that I think would be a cool drawing I’ll take a picture and then draw it.”
Favorite medium: Pastels, graphite
Artistic style: “I like to draw still life. Another favorite thing to draw is animals.”
Rachel Finke
Age/Class: 17/Senior
Future plans: Rachel plans to go to college and wants to be a second-grade teacher.
Inspiration: She is inspired by her three- and five-year-old cousins — “I love the innocence in children and how they make everything worthwhile,” she said.
Favorite medium: Photopraphy
Artistic style: “I am a photographer who enjoys taking short depth-of-field photos.”
Brittany Albright
Age/Class: 18/Senior
Future plans: Rachel plans to go to college to major in environmental studies and minor in art.
Inspiration: “I really love to paint landscapes, so if I see a sunset or a reall great view of an area I really want to paint it. I really love van Gogh’s texture. I love to add texture and make things stand out and look real.”
Favorite medium: Paint (acrylic)
Artistic style: “My style would be very abstract at times as well as dramatic and realistic. I like to paint real places or people in many different ways. I also love to put myself into my painting, put my own style on everything.”
Daniel Park
Age/Class: 18/Senior
Future plans: Daniel plans to go to college. He is undecided on his major but is interested in the medical field.
Inspiration: He is also inspired by van Gogh and realism.
Favorite medium: Graphite, pen and ink
Artistic style: Daniel describes his work as “precise, accurate, patient, detailed and realistic.”
Ariel Dowski
Age/Class: 17/Senior
Future plans: Rachel will be attending UConn and possibly majoring in Communication Design and/or Actuarial Science.
Inspiration: She is inspired by M.C. Escher, Andy Warhol, and Photoshop magazines.
Favorite medium: Graphite, colored pencils, photography, Photoshop
Artistic style: She describes her work as “patient, creative, edgy, dramatic and varied.”
Taylor Byrne
Age/Class: Not indicated/Senior
Future plans: Taylor plans to go to college for Education with a minor in photography. She’d eventually like to pursue a career in education administration.
Inspiration: “My artistic inspiration is the world around me. I love photography because you are able to capture one moment in time with the click of a button; no other medium can do this the way a camera can.”
Favorite medium: Conventional photopraphy
Artistic style: Not indicated
