AP Studio Art and Design student present their portfolios

AP Studio Art and Design students presented their sustained investigation portfolios at the Great Falls High School Dahl Gallery.

Each student submitted ten works of art to the college board, who will then be grading their work for college credit based on their technical skills as well as their ability to create art with meaning.

The sustained investigation portfolios are a string of artworks that depict a common theme.

Senior Hailey Erickson explains that her sustained investigation is all about “just addictions and like the stuff around addictions, not necessarily specific kinds of addictions but also how it affects people around you, how it affects the person that has the addiction. I used hands because I feel like it’s a way to show how we connect with the world and how we interact with people around us.”

Artwork Hailey created depicted addictions like cigarettes, gambling, candy, and even Diet Coke - an ode to a teacher of hers that is addicted to the soft drink.

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AP Art Students have been working on their portfolios all school year, which include paintings, drawings, sculptures, and digital art.

Each student created at least fifteen works throughout the year, many depicting hard hitting themes like dysmorphia, grief, and loss.

Petra Timmsen is another senior in the class, and says the class put a focus on fine tuning technical art skills with different mediums like watercolor, oil painting, and drawing.

She told MTN News that this class helped her realize her passion for teaching and plans to pursue an art education degree after graduation. She says, “A certain group of us went to the middle school here to teach and present about the course. I'm really excited to be an art teacher."

You can see the student’s curated works on display at Great Falls High School’s Dahl Gallery, located at 1900 Second Avenue South.