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SENIOR SPOTLIGHT 2020

The Senior Spotlight Exhibition was created in order to showcase the hard work and growth of graduating seniors who have developed an impressive portfolio of artwork throughout their time in Central´s art program. This exhibition usually takes place at Central´s annual art show and is without a doubt the highlight of the year for our art department. This year is bittersweet, however, in the wake of Covid-19 and all of its repercussions, that we were not able to celebrate these wonderful students face to face. With that, we are honored to present their spotlights in virtual form so that you may all get the opportunity to peer into their lovely minds, art making process, and CHS experience. May it shine a well-deserved light on each student and attempt to portray our incredible pride in being witness to this special part of their art journey.

ART MEMORY / My favorite memory would be watching the Great British Bake-off while working with on art projects after school with Sophie and Mrs. Drone.

PLANS / I will be attending Butler University in the fall majoring in Arts Administration.

CHS IMPACT / Being an art student at Central high school has lead me to my passion for the arts and ultimately my future career.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Drawing, 2-D AP Art and Design, and Photography.

FRANCES ANDERSON

The artwork I create depicts self-growth and other connections between people and their emotions. I also demonstrate events through my art as well. Materials I like to use include collage, linocut, embroidery, watercolor, and acrylic paint.

NAOMI

BARIGHT

This year I have curated a portfolio that sought to visualize the complexity and diversity of human experiences. I try to use many different materials such as acrylic paint, colored pencil, college, marker, photography, and watercolor but my favorites are pen, ink, and charcoal.

ART MEMORY / The Central Art Show my junior year I was able to help set it up and received my first award.

PLANS / Undeclared at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Ceramics, Drawing, Advanced Drawing, Photography, Graphic Design, 2-D AP Art and Design

CHS IMPACT / I have grown my skills and grew conceptually as an artist.

ADVICE / Take as many art classes as you can, learn from everyone around you, true talent is gained through practice.

COURSES /

Art Survey, Drawing, Advanced Drawing, Painting,

2-D AP Art and Design

PLANS / Attending Illinois State University, double majoring in Graphic Design and Art with a concentration in painting

AUDREY CARSWELL

Most of my recent artwork has surrounded the topic of identity. My most used medium is acrylic paint.

EMMA

FARBMAN

Currently, I’m trying to explore things that interest me, as well as ways I can better share and express my feelings through art. I enjoy creating art using a variety of mediums, namely acrylic and gouache paints, charcoal, and graphite pencils, as well as ink pens and brushes. Though I don’t dabble in photography often, I still enjoyed taking pictures when I had the chance to.

ART MEMORY / Almost every moment I’ve spent in the art room I remember fondly. But if I were to say my favorite, it wouldn’t be a singular moment. More a collection of experiences. I enjoyed making art during any period I possibly could and being welcomed, even if I was only sitting in the back of the room in silence with my headphones in.

PLANS / Pursuing art education.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Art Survey 2, Cultural Arts, Drawing, Ceramics, Photography, Painting, Graphic Design

(and I’ve sat in on many more :) )

CHS IMPACT / Taking art classes at Central helped me to better understand the depth of my connection to art, and why making it is so important to me. I improved my technical skills while also evolving my mental approach to planning and making new things, which was something I desperately needed. The art classes I took, and the teachers who taught them, helped me to grow. Their impact on me will truly never fade.

ADVICE / Don’t limit yourself by chasing an impossible level of perfection in your art. Art should be and feels more cathartic when it is, about your feelings. Explore yourself. And if you aren’t ready to do that just yet, explore everything and anything you can until you are.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Art Survey 2, Cultural Arts, Photography, Graphic Design, Drawing, Painting, Ceramics, Advanced Drawing, 2-D AP Art and Design

ADVICE / Stay out of your head and take a break to draw what makes you happy. We’ve all had that art piece labeled “the problem child” that you’ve poured hours of pain and suffering into that never looks right, it’s okay to step back from it. Sometimes starting a new idea is the best thing to do, it gives you some time to rethink and put your energy into something else. I cannot stress how much time I’ve wasted trying to rework a piece that just won’t cooperate! It’s not worth the stress!

PLANS / I plan to attend Parkland College in the fall. I’m undecided on a major but will be taking classes to work towards being a comic book and graphic novel artist.

CHS IMPACT / Being an art student at Central has really helped me shape my art and find my style. I’ve also discovered brand new mediums that I love, like ceramics! I’ve met amazing people and learned real tricks to refine my art too! Maybe it’s sappy but being an art student at Central is one of the best experiences you can have, I think. The art rooms alone have always been the most welcoming and kind rooms in all the school. Even on the worst days, I was still happy to shuffle inside, sit down with my friends, and watercolor for fifty minutes.

ART MEMORY / Maybe this is cheating but my favorite memory was my Advanced Drawing class. That semester was perhaps one of my favorites and that class was always the best! I remember sitting around first thing in the morning, drawing and talking about the craziest things to all my friends. We’d also talk about our pieces and bounce ideas off each other, it was great.

TOBY GERARD

I’m not sure what my art is completely about, I like to jump between odd or spooky ideas in my work. A lot of my art right now is character design and scene drawing, since I’d like to make comics one day. They’ve been my biggest inspiration in my style and my work since I was a kid. My favorite medium to use is marker and microns, I love the colors and the medium works really well with my style.

MASON HUTTON

Most of the time I draw things like superheros and other pop culture characters. I work digitally a lot, mostly because it is the most convenient and easy to share.

ART MEMORY / Recently I got the opportunity to work on an app with my dad for AKC. I did most of the graphic design work within the game. That was a cool learning experience and in the end I had drawn a lot of game assets.

PLANS / I will be going to Parkland for Art and Design. After college I hope to help develop more applications and games.

COURSES / Art Survey 1 and 2, Advanced Drawing, Graphic Design, 2-D AP Art and Design

CHS IMPACT / I think I have learned a lot in my classes and been exposed to new techniques I would not have seen otherwise.

ADVICE / I would try not to get stuck on a “style'' too much and focus on practicing drawing/art in general.

ART MEMORY / When I did my independent study I used a lot of my friends for the projects so it was fun to pull them out of class and have them be a part of what I was doing.

PLANS / I will be attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to pursue a major in Photography and hopefully a minor in Business.

CHS IMPACT / I got my start into photography because I was an art student at Central, and now that’s what I’m going to college for. Mrs. S was also a big impact on me being my photography teacher, I thought she was just saying how good my stuff was because that’s what teachers do until I realized it for myself. She helped me in many ways get to where I am right now in retrospect to photography.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Photography, AP Pathways 2-D design, and an independent study focused on Photography.

ADVICE / If you find an art medium that you really enjoy, keep working at it or learning about it. There is always more to learn when it comes to art!

LAUREN LARSON

As a photographer in the spring you would typically find me snapping photos of sports, my sister at the park, and graduation or prom photos of my friends. But with what is going on in the world right now these photos incase the emotion or sadness of not being able to capture those photos! This series expresses the emotions attached to all of the changes are going during the end of what should have a picture perfect senior year.

LILLIAN RICE

My current art has been about finding inspiration from other artists and creators, and then taking those inspirations and styling it in a new way that has meaning and purpose to me. I like to try using different techniques and mediums to get the aesthetic and emotion that I want present in my piece. The mediums I have been using recently are acrylic paint, digital drawings, and graphite pencils.

ART MEMORY / Admiring the beautiful art that my friends and I made being displayed at the 2020 Eric Show.

PLANS / University of Illinois, majoring in Graphic Design.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Graphic Design, Drawing

CHS IMPACT / Being an art student at Central has helped me discover my passion for creating things, in all forms. If it were not for the art teachers at Central, I would not have realized that making art, even when it can be frustrating, is what truly makes me happy.

ADVICE / Even the most prestigious artists have projects that don’t turn out the way that they were planned, and all art students should remember that mistakes don’t you less than as an artist.

PLANS / I'm trying to become famous After High School lol But until then I will be cheering at Roosevelt / Robert Morris University in Chicago and i will Major in graphic design

CHS IMPACT / During school hours Working on my art Was a peaceful escape from everything else going on in life

COURSES / I'm pretty sure I took every art class at Central except Ceramics

ADVICE / Try to put as much time in your artwork as possible

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ERLANZOE MOSLEY

I photograph models that are good at showing different emotions and I use different colored lights/Symbols like a Crucifix or fire to give off a different aesthetics. Overall I try to tell a story but not for all my Photos. Most of my photography surrounds the idea of emotion.

BRIAN SANTIAGO

My art at the moment is just for fun, yet also to try and figure out what media is for me all though most of my arts have been by pencil. There's a few drawings that I made because it involved it being part of my future career of airbrushing. The point was to have it all sketched out for when the time comes to put it on a car i'm working in other words my personal car.

ART MEMORY / Honestly the trips we took out of school and those afternoons spent in art club after school man.

PLANS / I was planning on doing something with airbrushing and cars but that's something that they don't have around here. So while I save up money to head to a place where they do have that, I'll be doing something with trades/construction

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Drawing, 2-D AP Art and Design

CHS IMPACT / Ufff well at first I would draw very often but once I was in an art class that made me start drawing more often and it helped me improve a lot in my drawings.

ADVICE /

Don't give up so easily on your artworks, homies and hynas. Make sure you use the times your given wisly homies and just just keep pushing yourself.

homies - spanish slang for dudes, hynahs - spanish slang for girls

ART MEMORY / Setting up the AP art show at the art co-op at the end of junior year

PLANS / I will be majoring in art education at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.

CHS IMPACT / I have been able to grow so much as an artist because of what I've learned at Central. It's so rewarding to look back at my art from freshman year and see how much I've improved in the past 4 years. I've also made some amazing friends and met amazing teachers in art classes.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Painting, Drawing, 2-D AP Art and Design, Photography, AP Drawing

ADVICE / If you are planning on applying for an art-related major, taking AP art or other art classes your junior year can be super helpful, because then by the beginning of senior year, you already have a full portfolio to submit to colleges.

ANYA SHANNON

I love doing portraits, especially in colored pencil. I like combining surrealism and realism in my art. I also try to experiment with colors and different mediums.

CHAMPAIGN CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL VISUAL ARTS DEPARTMENT