Art Review is a single-semester course where students are given a prompt, then they must create a piece in response. This class helps artists explore new mediums while following a central idea, although all of the art is unique and individualized. These pieces are of varying mediums, displaying different understandings and interpretations of prompts. The following five works stood out for creativity, ambition, and hard work.

Obadiah Tate's chicken teapot (crock pot) piece is a ceramic mix of hand-building and throwing on the wheel. Each of the clay feathers was attached individually, as well as the head and handle. Although it was an incredibly tedious process, Obie finished the building aspect of the piece to create a teapot. Everyone in the class thought it was a unique concept, and a creative take on a traditional ceramic. It’s fully functional, with the chicken’s beak working as the spout. The chicken feathers go from the spout of the teapot all the way over to the handle.

Mitchell Knowles’s “Le Mot” is a unique take on the traditional fool card from the Tarot de Marseille but in a contemporary Muppets style. To achieve the puppet's final look, Mitchell had to create a fully functioning puppet head using the skills he gained from learning about puppetry during quarantine. The piece is complete with a hat and neckpiece following the original tarot card design. The idea behind this piece is that the full card represents yourself and how that ties into medieval jesters having puppets of themselves (Marotte) as another man for their jokes. I believe this is a truly creative take on a traditional vs. contemporary prompt and it stood out as a star project. 

Roy Gee’s Ceramic plates were a colorful blend of hard work and dedication to an art project. I found this piece to be special because Roy was able to take inspiration from his classmates to create this work. He took inspiration from Obadiah's usage of clay and his abstract art style, combined with Camdon Kimball's shoe design from a previous project. After lots of in-depth sketches and planning, Roy made two ceramic plates that resemble an abstract rendition of basketballs. I think that the use of patterns and colors definitely makes this notable, especially considering the reason behind it.

“Perception” by Jorden Cole Is a compelling piece reflecting on mental health and being perceived by others. This art piece is a sketch of a man with scribbles and words around his head and eyes surrounding him in the background. I found the use of words in the piece to be impactful and direct, really speaking to the viewer. Jordan includes words like crazy, delusional, psycho, and stressed. It’s very important to have art focused on mental health as it’s a topic that could always use coverage. I think the message of anxiety was clearly displayed and expressed through this work.

In my opinion, one of the most powerful projects from this course was Colby Martin’s rendition of Creation of Adam. I thought it was very creative to take a famous piece of art and twist it into a different Message. He's done this with previous works, such as commenting on capitalism through American Gothic. I find this piece in particular to be special because of the message behind the drawing. There's a sketch of a patient lying in a hospital bed reaching out to an entity that is representative of suicide. The Entity is drawn uniquely, being made up of swirls and dark, ominous patterns. The idea is that you're reaching inside of yourself, reaching out to the temptation of suicide as a way out. It's really important to see these pieces and the description of this experience. 

If any students would like to see these pieces, most of them are in around Ms. Kutcher's classroom.