Artists select concentration, theme for College Board

AP Studio students throughout the school are working throughout the year to finish their concentrations. A concentration is a series of art pieces that relate to one central topic or theme that students in AP Studio are working on. These concentrations are due at the end of the year with their portfolio, which they submit to the College Board. Instead of taking a final exam like most AP classes, students in AP Studio put together a portfolio loaded with artwork that they submit at the end of the year for scoring.

“The College Board calls it a sustained investigation. And over time, you are investigating a theme that you come up with,” Mrs. Dawn Graham, the AP Studio teacher, said.

“You get to decide from start to finish how it’s going to go,” junior Bailey Hopkins said. “The College Board would like to see a progression of your thoughts, and it tends to be about 10 to 12 pieces of work.”

Hopkins is creating a concentration about the hands of artists.

“For example I have someone working with clay, or someone using their hands,” she said.

For many of the students, their concentration means something more to them. Concentrations can have a personal meaning to the student that is creating it.

“I chose this topic because you can always tell a lot about someone and their life by how they have worked with their hands,” Hopkins said.

The artists can also choose many different mediums to make their concentrations. Junior Chesney Todd explained what mediums she is using for her concentration.

“I like to work a lot with ink pens and acrylic paint,” she said.

The concentrations that these students are working on take hard work, creativity, and dedication, and they show a student’s perspective on the world and their artistic abilities.