Charmae Medina

Visual Arts Department

Full Body Portrait (not that deep)

2020

Wood, torch, sandpaper

2' x 4'

I made my first wood burning, a simple front facing self portrait, in the summer before my sophomore year of high school. It was initially an experiment for me, and I didn’t expect so much to come from it when I started. However, with its first reception and an eventual Scholastic gold medal, I decided to invest a lot of my time developing as an artist in this method of making art, and the process began to become natural to me. While the subject matter in this piece has no meaning in itself, it is the result of much practice and experimentation with different sizes, types, and thickness of wood, and with different burning and sanding techniques. The full body portrait also afforded me the opportunity to render skin to the best of my current ability; I have learned that smooth plains and gradients are one of the things this medium is good at conveying.

Though there are other media that I could have made my senior piece in, I am the most attached to my wood burnings. It is where a lot of my identity as an artist comes from, and I feel as if there isn’t a more fitting means to convey my efforts and development in my years at dreyfoos.

More Art

Yay

Dear Class of 2020 ...

You are all great and talented people. Dreyfoos in general has afforded me many opportunities for growth and I couldn't think of any other school that could be better for me. This entire experience has been fulfilling. I cannot imagine the kind of person I would be if I didn't go to school alongside all of you, and it is a shame that the year has been cut short. Nonetheless, I am very thankful for the wonderful establishment that dreyfoos is, and the individuals it brought together.

Gold medals are fun

The only piece that I got to go to New York for was an experiment from when I was a sophomore.

My brain bee team when we were asked to name the lobes of the brain.

Skeleton was a G

It's also very much worth getting to know Officer O and Ms. Becca. They're the best hypemen.

This was me when I was a freshman.

DEAR CLASS OF 2021

Hi, class of 2021! It seems like with every batch of students that graduates, the next is more stressed out about college than the last. It can be confusing and stressful, and even more so if you are unsure as to what you should choose in terms long term career plans and passions you will pursue in your adult life. This is what this to you will be about for the most part. I'm going to enter college as a neuroscience and behavior major with a minor in philosophy, and I suppose the people who know me and have seen me neglect academic and artistic responsibilites for online courses would say that it's a fitting field for me.

I'll confess in this letter though, that I don't necessarily see myself as wanting to be a scientist or a full time philosopher. I am completely prepared to be neither as an adult, and that's because I fully expect that exposure to other fields of study and experiences in college would impact the choices I will make for the future and my interests on some level. Even those who have had strong aspirations and seem to have known what they wanted out of life since they were kids can change once they are exposed to other things in college, and with that being said, don't let yourself be too stressed if you don't know what to do, because college, in a sense, will level out the playing field if you keep an open mind and approach the things you learn with as much enthusiasm as you can afford. Everything will fall into place if you continue to make good choices for yourself!

Sincerely,

Charmae

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