1. 2012 – 2013
Ottawa Area ISD

2. “COLLAGRAPH PLATE”
Abby Harrell
Holland High School – Grade 11
Our project was to make a door. This door
could lead anywhere. I was inspired by
vintage doors, and I also incorporated a
“summery” feel to it.

3. “STILL LIFE OF A DRAPERY”
Alexis Umlor
Allendale High School – Grade 9
I created this piece of work because it was a class
assignment. The idea of the assignment was learning to
work with value. One of the problems I faced while
working on this project was having enough contrast so
people could easily see the different parts of the
drapery. While working on this project, I was focusing
on making the piece look realistic through accuracy of
the shadows and using a wide range of shades.

4. “CAT IN SHADOW”
Alicia Posthuma
Jenison High School - Grade 10
This drawing was for an independent project for my
art class. I was initially going to draw my own cat,
but I though a hairless car with a shirt on would be a
little more interesting. My inspiration came from one
of my grandparents’ cats name Rufus. People
commonly think that they are hideous animal, but I
think that they are the cutest things. I’ve always
wanted to try and draw him, but I’ve just never had
the time to. I didn’t really go through much of a
thought process, but I’m proud of the way it turned
out.

5. “BROOKLYN”
Ana Patchin
West Ottawa High School –
Grade 9
The city has always fascinated me.
While brainstorming ideas for this
project I came across a photo of the
Brooklyn Bridge and immediately the
project snapped into place. The
Brooklyn Bridge and the New York
City skyline represent a world of
opportunity, and the colors I used
symbolize the bright future that awaits
some in New York. I hope one day I
will be led into a bright future in a city
like New York

6. “THE WORKING MAN”
Stacy Skekloff
West Ottawa High School – Grade 12
From the very beginning of my high school career I have been
involved in various art courses at West Ottawa. I am grateful that I
was able to establish my foundation early my freshman year, on
which I have been building ever since in the current international
Baccalaureate Program. IB Art has given me confidence to
articulate clearly my thoughts and opinions. Through these past two
years I have definitely gained a world perspective that is prevalent
throughout my work. Many of my works have evolved from
shallow subject matters to complex world issues. These issues are
addressed in a way that makes the viewer reflect on the subject
matter while maintaining the beauty that is present in the art. IB has
taught me how to develop my own ideas and convey them in
unexpected ways. My process of working as an artist has also
transformed into a professional way of thinking beginning with
sources of inspiration, followed by research and finished with
precise construction. This particular piece, titles the working man,
embodies every person that has had to struggle to pursue their goals.
I utilized a technique where I reused old paper towel and shaped it
in different ways to create volume and depth. I then used different
materials to solidify the paper towel and used paint and paper to
showcase different drawings on top of the texture. This piece
demanded me to take risks, and I am very proud of the outcome.
Next year I will be attending the University of Michigan Ann Arbor
at the school of Art and Design. I will take all of the valuable skills
I have acquired with me next year as I pursue my goal of becoming
an industrial designer.

7. “BOTTLES”
Anne Schwendinger
Jenison High School – Grade 11
This picture was an assignment from my painting class.
We had to draw a still life with some bottles; our focus
should be on the reflection. For the background we had
to add some movement, that’s why I added the swirls. I
think this makes the picture more interesting. My
problem was the blending of the colors. I like when the
colors are blended into each other and I can’t see a clear
line between two different colors. This was very hard
with oil pastel, because they are hard to blend. I spend
a lot of time with trying to blend the colors. The white
reflection on the bottles is not blended; there I actually
wanted to see a difference to get the effect of a
reflection.

8. “HUICHOL YARN PAINTING”
Austin Hoekstra
Jenison High School – Grade 10
I would have never done this project if Mrs.
Moynihan never told me about the project. I
was just sitting in my seat thinking of what to
make, when I thought of making a snake, but I
wanted to make the snake look like it was
wrapping around the cardboard. I chose to do a
snake, because I like how sneaky they can be
and I have actually seen a snake wrapped around
a pole before and I thought that it was the
coolest thing in the world. The teacher
assignment was called a Huichol yarn panting,
and everybody else’s where small and in a
circle, mine was the biggest out of all her classes
and it took a long time, but it was a fun project
to do.

9. “ISTANBUL”
Christa Mulder
Holland Christian High School – Grade 12
I was inspired to create this piece after looking through
images of my dad’s trip to Istanbul, Turkey. This piece
came from a concentration of works where I focused on
recreating different kinds of architecture based on
places I visited or images I found. I started out by
selecting a photo to work from, and then went to
sketching out the basic shapes on a raw canvas. I then
began the process of layering fabric, paint, and paper to
create the overall composition. Anyone who has
traveled, knows that there is more to a culture than what
first meets the eye. The same goes for this piece. In
order to notice all the details of this piece, such as the
fact that the shredded paper is actually money, one must
spend time examining the piece. I made the decision to
leave the edges of the canvas undone because it (along
with the mismatched scraps of fabric) represents that we
live in an imperfect world, and it is our job to try and
make something beautiful out of it.

10. “SUITS”
Christine Moore
Saugatuck High School – Grade 10
“Suits” started out as an assignment with the simple instructions of making a print with texture or layers. While brainstorming ideas for a subject I came
across a picture of a closet of suits. This picture became my inspiration. The process involved layering different materials to achieve the desired textures, then
layering colors to achieve the desired look. After experimenting with many different color combinations, I tried these colors and liked the outcome. The
process was long and at some points very frustrating, but in the end it was completely worth it.

11. “FLOWER/PASTEL ON BLACK BACKGROUND
Crystal Reyes
Grand Haven High School – Grade 10

12. “BRIGHT WITH LIFE”
Desirae Oliver
CareerLine Tech Center – Grade 11
This bird was painted with bright colors to encase life within it. Then it was decided to write out my bible study
notes around to then encase life around it. The intent is for the piece to have life.

13. “NEBULA”
Elizabeth Pierce
Black River – Grade 12
“Nebula” was my exploration of different techniques with pastel. My teacher assigned my class to make three art works in pastel of any subject. I had never worked with
pastel before and was unsure on how well I would be able to control it. All three of my pastel pieces for this assignment are related and show how I kept improving and
changing as I became more practiced.
I chose nebulae as my subject matter because of the bright smooth colors. The stars and outer space have been a life long source of almost magical beauty and wonderment
for me. I have always enjoyed stargazing and watching any informational TV show about outer space and planets. At the time I made the artwork, the background on my
laptop was a picture of a nebula, so I searched the Internet for more pictures of nebulae.
My first piece was experimental for blending colors and trying to get that sense of depth. My second was an accurate representation of the God’s Eye Nebula, and my third
was based on a picture I found, but not an exact copy. With this piece I wanted to create a sense of wonder and beauty that I find in the stars. I focused on blending the
pastels, especially black, to achieve a rich and velvety looking image.

14. “WINTER MORNING”
Elliott Husbands
Black River – Grade 11

15. “TO BREAK THE SILENCE”
Jared Johnson
Holland High School – Grade 9
Uniformity is something I strive against
everyday. I don’t necessarily want to be
normal, I just want to show that you can
be a good football player, you can be one
of the fastest in track, you can be a
phenomenal student, and especially be a
good artist. Even if you might have an
underlying condition, or something of that
nature. It’s what is below the surface that
counts.

16. “FLOWERS”
Jenna Chambers
Saugatuck High School – Grade 10
When I drew these flowers, it was fall, and they were as dry and crisp as the weather. As a matter of fact, they were pretty much dead on the day I
finished sketching them. However, it was also the best part about painting them. I mixed oil pastels together to create a summery backdrop and a
myriad of yellows to color the Black-eyed Susan's themselves. Unlike the rest of the work, the foliage was in watercolor, shaded to look like the
sun on leaves. The pale, gray outline was no longer there, and in its place was something new. There’s nothing like bringing the dead back to life.

17. “FLOWERS AND COLORS”
Kali LaHaie
Allendale High School – Grade 12
My goal with this piece was to create a still life
piece for my portfolio. I wanted it to be
something bright and cheery because I love
working with bright colors, so I chose the
colorful flowers and vase to match my interests.

18. “PUNCHED-OUT TULIP”
Katelyn Mulder
Zeeland East High School – Grade 11
The inspiration for this piece was a photo I had
taken down town Holland during Tulip Time.

19. “EXODIC”
Kyra Chase
Coopersville High School – Grade 9
African American Elephants have always been a
favorite animal of mine. Once I heard they were
on the brink of extinction, I felt helpless and
upset. Currently the population is 600,000 but is
diminishing by 38,000 each year. The cause of
their declining numbers is because many people
poach for the ivory in the elephant’s tusks.
Many organizations like the IFAW and CITES
are calling for people to stop the support of legal
ivory sales. What dragged me to the research of
the African American Elephant was their charm
and biodiversity.

20. “LANDSCAPE 3D”
Leah Kostelijk
Black River – Grade 11
My painting is of a landscape in New Zealand. This is my home country. I love being out in nature and
seeing all the beautiful landscapes in my country. It is painted in the impressionism style with acrylic paint on
three translucent sheets to create a 3-D effect. This project was assigned by my art teacher, Miss Doyle.

21. “LEAVES OF ALL AGES”
Marissa Marques
Holland High School – Grade 12
My name is Marissa Maques. My work “Leaves of All Ages” was done in an independent art class that I took. When I saw this image on the internet
and was instantly attracted to the bright contrasting colors. I originally started this work in oil pastels but as I started I thought it would be a lot better in
watercolor, so I started over. This was the first watercolor I ever did and I was a little worried at the beginning, but pleased with how it turned out.

22. “DUSK IN GRAND RAPIDS”
Mary Morkes
West Ottawa High School North – Grade 12
For this piece, I worked from a photograph I had taken. In this photo, I experimented with silhouettes and shadows, a subject which has intrigued me for quite
some time. I aimed to create a variation through texture. I chose not to cover the entire piece in tissue paper, to create depth through different layers. The
composition of this photo was key: the two figures are placed off center, and the telephone pole balances the other half. Not only did I provide contrast between
my light and dark colors, but between the flat black background and the tissue covered background. The focus on the two figures is mysterious, and yet hopeful,
as they go toward the brightness. However, most of them are enveloped by the darkness on the bottom. This is where the mysterious mood derives from, and it
puts the direct message of the pieces up for interpretation.

23. “UNTITLED”
Megan Yasick
Grand Haven High School – Grade 12
The picture that inspired this painting moved me.
When I saw the woman I was struck by the
immense sorrow she projected. She looked so
haunted, intense, and desperate. I looked at her
and saw raw emotion. When people look at this
piece that’s what I want them to see and feel -
EMOTION.

24. “COMPLEMENTARY”
Michael Pierce
West Ottawa High School – Grade 11
At the beginning of the year our art teacher had told us we had to pick a concentration. I had thought hard about this, like I do everything. I finally
decided that my concentration from which I would base my artwork from, would be “old to new.” My teacher told my class that our next piece
would be a spray stencil. So in my spray stencil I show my old relationships in my past with the records in the background. Then I show my new
relationships with the image of me and the girl I had recently started dating. All of it emphasizing that although some things end, there are always
new beginnings.

25. “HEART/MATCHSTICKS”
Mira Harmon
Hudsonville Freshman Campus – Grade 9
My picture was inspired by my love for catching the detail and setting a story behind the picture. This certain picture however was
thought up to start as an accident when I was using matches for another picture I was trying to create. It wasn’t till the end, when I
looked at the burning batch of matches in the small box, that I thought to draw with one match a heart, thus creating that picture
that was chosen to represent my art.

26. “8TH”
Samuel Boerchel
Zeeland East High School – Grade 11
In this image I wanted to show depth with the high
contrast between the black and white, emphasized by
the 3-D glasses. I like the way India ink blends with
water to form swirls and bleeding areas. This image
is a statement about my personality and the way
people view me, I enjoy making people smile.

27. “COLOR FIELD”
Sierra Vantil
Coopersville High School – Grade 12
It had been awhile since anybody had said to
me “just doodle,” however, that’s exactly what
this assignment was about. The class was
learning about Zen doodles, which became our
inspiration. We were given a blank piece of
paper, a black Sharpie, and free time to just let
our minds run free. “Color Field” is what
became of this. We had also been focusing on
atmospheric perspective, colors that are in the
distance appear duller. I added water color to
achieve this concept and to add a little of my
personality to the piece. I am proud to say that
this entire piece came directly from my day-
dreaming mind and was all done with my free
hand.

28. “ROACH 4 LIFE”
Zachary Henderson
Hudsonville High School – Grade 11
The inspiration for this project is what provided the
motivation to create Reach 4 Life. As a middle schooler, I
attended a church camp that had a ministry by this name.
This ministry was created to end as much poverty as they
could in Africa, to raise the awareness of AIDS to teenagers
there, and to share the truth of God’s word to as many
students and teenagers as they could. This ministry
immediately gripped my heart as I thought of how fortunate
I was to live in such a wealthy country and community. As I
painted this piece, all of the epidemics, all the malnutrition
and abused children in so many African’s have and how
there’s a God watching over each and every one of them
with loving care. My intent for this piece was to paint
something intricate that grabs the eye’s attention with warm
colors and abstract patterns, with each pattern and symbol
each representing meanings that Africa has. Whenever I
become stressed, whenever I feel treated unfairly, whenever
I feel oppressed or unthankful for what I have, my mind
turns to the starving, abused children in Africa; rags for
clothes, a shack for a home, polluted water and no certainty
they will have food each day. They suffer such a greater
amount than I. We are blessed beyond imagination. This
piece, and this little African child in the painting are a
constant reminder to be thankful for what it is we have, and
to be an outreach to those who have less.