Sharing Emotions Through Art

March 4, 2022

Academics

GNS

Hannah Sawchuk ’22 has been gearing up to display her art at the Grade 12 IB Art Exhibition. This exhibition will have pieces curated from the past two years with a main theme of mental health.

“The pieces I made investigate different aspects of mental health and certain conditions like eating disorders, depression and things like that,” she explained. “With that, I tried to emulate a feeling based on it. I feel like people try to put mental health in a box based on titles and symptoms but I wanted to communicate the feeling.”

Communicating emotions through her art was very important for Hannah and they can be seen through her use of shape, colour and form.

“It’s a topic that’s talked about a lot more today. People are bringing more attention to mental health,” she said. “A lot of it is connecting it with my journey through mental health.”

Hannah wants people to come to the exhibition with an open mind and to experience the emotion she is trying to demonstrate in her art.

“It would be nice if some people can relate to a feeling that I’m trying to project with my art, or even if they don’t relate to what you feel? Does it make you feel uncomfortable, scared? And just lean into it,” she says. “Try and get people to feel these emotions.”

Her favourite piece is her most recent creation and it shows her growth as an artist over the years. Specifically, through her use of oil pastels, which she previously did not like to use in her art.

“I revisited oil pastels and learned how to work with it, and it’s one of my favourite media,” she added. “The piece is to emulate that feeling after a mental breakdown when you have been crying a lot, your face is puffy. It’s that point when your emotions switch and you get that euphoric feeling after a release. I think it’s a good ending piece to my mental health theme—sort of like a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Hannah has been at GNS since Junior Kindergarten and noted that having created arts and crafts since then has helped curate her passion for fine arts, especially with encouragment from her parents.

“My parents have always wanted me to be creative,” she said. “I never had the skill set of my other friends who knew how to draw something realistic, so I thought I couldn’t be a good artist. But, I found playing with different media there is stuff I’m good at.”

Hannah said surrealist artists are what inspire her when she’s making her art.

“I like surrealist art because it’s an uncanny valley feeling where it’s uncomfortable and weird, but vaguely familiar to you and you have to question why it feels like that,” she said.

Heading off to post-secondary, Hannah plans to pursue social sciences, but she does want to keep the fine arts in her life either as a hobby or by taking courses.

Hannah and two other classmates will be showcasing their art from March 9 to 17 in the Denford Hall Foyer, with opening night March 9 from 6 to 7 p.m.. Don’t forget to come by and see the amazing work they have all put into their pieces. Stay tuned for the location.

“It would be nice to have people come to see our art,” she said. “Come with an open mind. I’m nervous people will see the scary stuff in my art, and not want to keep looking and lean into the uncomfortable feeling.”