The artistic soul of multiple students on the San Luis Obispo High School campus is truly being unleashed during this time of quarantine. Art is a great way to express one’s emotions, but in some ways, without words. Pieces of art can easily have the potential to be an outlet to create something that represents what someone is feeling on the inside, and this is their way of expressing it, yet in a tangible way.
“Listening to music, being in nature, and interacting with new people are a few of the things that inspire me to create art the most. I’ve always taken on projects since I was young, like sewing and handmade goods typically for entrepreneurial pursuits. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I actually thought about watercolor painting and it is only truly now [because of quarantine] that I’ve gotten to delve into the art of watercolor,” said freshman Maddie Shannon.
Art has essentially an endless array of possibilities just waiting to be experimented, which is why many people enjoy doing it; art doesn’t have to be rudimentary.
“Recently, I’ve been most interested in drawing and creating collages; layering different colors over magazine clips/photographs to create something new. I’m usually the most inspired by pictures I see from other artists or designs I see that remind me of different memories or feelings,” said sophomore Hannah Stephens.
During this time away from school, new inspiration that has never been experienced before for SLOHS students is appearing in numerous ways.
“Forms of art that I have been interested in this quarantine is a lot of body art. Normally, I don’t do realistic drawings because it’s just not my specialty, but I want to get better and challenge myself, so I’ve been focusing on specific parts of the body. This art definentaly differs from my normal art. Usually, I like to draw cartoons or anime style pieces, so I don’t really have a favorite thing to create, but anything with vibrant colors is what I’m interested in,” said sophomore Josie Berryman.
Even though the various embodiments of art are great configurations of expression, immense amounts of fear and vulnerability may follow after the piece’s completion.
“My art impacts me so much. And I don’t even think I realized how much of an impact it had on my life until the beginning of my sophomore year. During this year, there have been ups and downs, and whenever I was feeling super lost, angry, or sad, I would just start drawings–they were emotional drawings. I do art not to just do it, but to relieve my emotions and to be contempt. It [art] keeps me focused and makes me want to be better,” said Berryman.
Commonalities arise amongst artists in terms of their drive to create what they feel passionate about.
“Art, for me, is a coping mechanism in a way. I can turn on music, do art, and distract myself from life’s troubles; it also is a way to express my thoughts and emotions. I would recommend that other students create something that they can relate to or feel passionate about. I feel like my best artwork (writing included) appears when there’s a passionate heart behind it,” said Shannon.
Whenever boredom emerges, think of what forms of art can be created from noticing the unadorned aspects and simplicity of the things in all of the quarantined surroundings.
