Art Studio 11/12 Creates Textured Pop-art Portraits

March 10, 2022

Academics

GNS

Grade 11 and 12 students in Ms. Gina Sicotte’s Art Studio class have used recycled materials and objects to create large pop-art portraits of people who inspire them.

“They each chose a person who is inspirational in their life, and we wanted to incorporate and transform discarded objects and materials into art,” said Ms. Sicotte. “We deconstructed some objects that would have been considered junk and used them as the media for the portrait to solidify the concept for their pieces.”

“It wasn’t just about creating a portrait of a person. It was also about incorporating an aspect of that person that was particularly inspiring,” she adds.

Obtaining the needed objects is slightly unconventional, as students were armed with eye protection, hammers, saws and screwdrivers to acquire materials in specific shapes and sizes.

Each piece of art is large, heavy, and completely original. The art needed to be of a certain size to have the desired impact, and the recycled materials are glued onto a plywood backdrop. The general outline of each portrait was created digitally using just two colours, and from there, students set to work.

The class consists of just four students, two in Grade 11 and two in Grade 12, and this allowed Ms. Sicotte and the group to work closely together as the art was created.

Drew Erickson ’22 did his portrait on Esports streamer Felix Lengyel. “I used keyboard keys, cords, and stuff that relates to him,” said Drew. “I thought it would only take two to three weeks to create, but it was really more like double that.”

Deaton Pollock ’22 was inspired by his passion for Dungeons & Dragons, and chose to do his portrait on Matthew Mercer, a voice actor known for playing the game. “I think I used about 300 different dice for the portrait,” he estimated. “I decided to cut a bunch of them in half, which ended up being a pretty big challenge.”

The portrait produced by Kieran Laurie-Winston ’21 is of Martin Luther King, Jr. “I used mainly pencils, speakers, and some pins. I chose to use black and orange for this,” explained Kieran. “Black represents the Black community, and orange kind of represents how he was assassinated.”

Finally, Bjorn Allerdissen ’21 created a portrait of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. “I used writing supplies, measuring supplies and that type of stuff because he was a writer in his life,” said Bjorn. “My main focus was trying to express the counter-cultural creativity of Nietzsche’s work.”

Though the process had its share of challenges, the end results are truly unique and full of detail.

“I’m super happy with how these all turned out,” said Ms. Sicotte. “The students should be so proud of their work.”

The art is currently being displayed in the Senior School Learning Commons for all to see. Amazing job, everyone!