Maggie Walker recently held its first Art 5 Solo Exhibition since the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing senior Art 5 students Anna Yao, Hanna Ngai, and Mallory French. With the guidance of the department chair and instructor of Visual and Performing Arts Coach Jeff Hall, each student developed and created pieces based on their own inspirations and experiences. This opportunity, which was solely for Art 4/5 students, was a stepping stone, and each of the students was left with an augmented perspective on art. 

From designing the pieces to learning the process of exhibiting and giving artist talks, each step enhanced the students’ artistic professionalism and knowledge. Anna Yao stated that the “entire thing was pretty surreal,” and it gave her a “sense of achievement.” It allowed Yao to “feel exposed” while her pieces conveyed her stories and skill to the viewers. Showing her work to the public was “scary but exhilarating,” and as a growing artist, she said that it was an amazing experience in her artistic journey. Yao’s pieces were reflections of her journey from the start of high school, and her goal was to “challenge [herself], to master, to explore.”

As a combination of both “practice work and conceptual work,” Yao’s pieces allowed her to learn and explore various facets of digital art while experimenting with her previous work. Her exhibition’s central theme revolved around “specific occurrences in nature, such as that of growth,” which is highlighted in her animation “Grow.” Yao also gave emphasis to fish in her artwork, which was inspired by an art assignment in her sophomore year. The purpose of the assignment was to choose a theme and work with it for the rest of the year, and even though Yao drifted away soon after, she returned to the theme of fish in her most recent pieces. 

For Yao, inspiration usually comes on the spot, and she spends more time playing and experimenting with ideas. Yao took art because it was her passion, her love. Even though she had the opportunity to take an “academically beneficial” course, taking art throughout high school allowed her to “continue a craft that [she found] as a safe space.” She also further commemorated Hall and how he “pushed us as artists, seeing us people beyond the label of a student.”

Another Art 5 student, Hanna Ngai, stated that she felt “proud to see how far [she came]” during her exhibition. Although she felt both excited and nervous, Ngai “enjoyed being able to share what [her] pieces [were] about,” and explaining the significance and inspiration behind her pieces to a vast audience. Furthermore, Ngai stated that her most memorable experience was seeing her portfolio all laid out and “giving [her] artist talk.” Being surrounded with her family and friends while she spoke about her passion and artwork further accentuated Ngai’s experience in the exhibition. 

The central theme portrayed by Ngai’s pieces was plastic pollution and “how it is simultaneously an impermanent but permanent material in our lives.” Her aim was to create sculpture-like art pieces from mere plastic bags, a new medium which she discovered. Ngai’s inspiration grew from TikTok videos that transformed plastic bags into “fabric-like material,” and plarn, or plastic yarn. With abundant accessibility to plastic bags at home, she experimented with the material and recognized its versatility.

“I needed a creative outlet,” stated Ngai, who has taken art since freshman year. Ever since middle school, she realized that she “needed to just make things,” and art allowed her to explore and thrive in that area. 

Hall described the exhibition and experience as “a transformative moment,” and it was the students’ “first time to really feel like an artist.” In regards to the students, Hall was “very proud of all of them,” especially considering that their advanced pace they were completed in. He further emphasized the exhibition’s significance by stating how viewers can get a sense of the students’ ideas and scope only when seeing multiple pieces of their works. By viewing an entire exhibition, Hall states that you can see every detail and “the thought process and evolution of their work,” which you don’t see in just one piece.

Hall’s greatest motivating factor to creating art is that “someday when [he is] dust,” his “paintings will be around for at least a couple hundred years.” Being an art teacher for him is to guide students and understand their passion and the direction they choose in their artistic pathway. Similar to his own reason for making art, his goal for students is to “leave here and to keep creating and to be creating until they’re dead.” Another goal of Hall was to aid students in “developing a body of work, and the body of work is their own personal voice that is executed over a series of pieces.” He aims to “teach them how to be artists, not an art student,” as Yao previously mentioned. Moreover, he stated that even though art “can be hard work, there’s satisfaction in the hard work,” and sometimes that is the drive for certain students.

Hall further elaborated that as a teacher, he wanted to shatter the assumption that you need to “know how to draw in order to be an artist;” instead, one merely needs to be “interested, passionate and willing to come and learn.” In fact, he had not taken a single art class until “senior year of high school,” and he was definite in being a physics major, which he even took in university. Hall continued by claiming that if “you don’t believe me, [take] a class and let me convince you.” “We’re going to make our program so freaking awesome” that “if we can get [the students] in the door, they’ll stay around,” confirmed Hall. 

According to Hall, art is a great lifetime pursuit. Creativity is essential, and typical school classes do not allow for creative freedom. “It’s not a part of the brain that’s exercised very much, even in a gifted school like this,” he said. However, through art, students are able to explore and broaden their imagination and innovation. Maggie Walker may not be inherently restrictive in an artistic sense, but Hall does wish that students had more art requirements.

“Others should take art to explore,” stated Yao. “It’s something that you have to try before you can judge.” Similarly, Ngai adds, “If you’re a creative person, definitely take art.” Ngai elaborated on the academic benefits of art, and how it “allows you to stand out from other applicants in the college process.” Coach Hall believes that students should always question themselves for inspiration before looking for outside resources: “What do you care about, what are you passionate about?” That is what truly transforms an experience.