Cycle of the Spider Lily

James Le, Senior at Winnetonka High School, 17 years old

“How this represents what I learned this year is that I really like the idea of death and rebirth and the cycle of life. Not that I truly believe in reincarnation, but the idea of it is a very interesting concept. The cycle of the world in general, we may die from an animal but we can also kill the animal. I also learned that I love this flower called the Red Spider Lily, It represents final farewells and guilds the dead through the cycle of rebirth. That is why the 2 skull’s flowers are fulling grown and filled in while the 2 alive people are empty, but slowing filling up.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Mon Petit Choioxt

Hunter Procter, Junior at Olathe South High School, 17 years old

“Mon Petit Choioxt meaning "My Little Choice/ Puppy" represents how much my family means to me. Throughout the past year many families have been broken down and built back up just to be broken down again and I am thankful that my family was lucky enough to not go through the pain many families did. This photo of my first dog reminds me of my family and the hardships we went through TOGETHER--including the dog-- during April last year and it reminds me to cherish it forever.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

There is a Limit to Possible Growth

Greta Albrecht, Sophomore at Shawnee Mission South High School, 15 years old

Medium: Pen and pencil 

“The title of my piece is "There is a Limit to Possible Growth". It is based on December 2020. In this piece, I used a piece of my math homework from that time as the base, to try to represent the feeling of stress, anxiety, and overwhelming pressure that many of us felt to succeed at school, at home, and to live up to the expectations placed upon us. To me, this time was also characterized by online school, which added a feeling of isolation and utter confusion leading up to final exams that I tried to represent in the art work.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Jadyn Freeman, Sophomore at Shawnee Mission Northwest, 15 years old

“I chose the prompt that asked to make a work of art that reflects something you discovered about yourself this year. For my piece, I decided to try and convey how much I love art. In this past year, I've learned that it's what my passion is in life. I plan to go to art school once I graduate.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Untitled

Mona Ingersoll-Qureshi, Junior at Paseo Academy

“The prompt that I illustrated is a month in 2020. Quarantine felt like a familiar prison. We were all home and surrounded by the peace of our houses, yet we yearned to go outside, to see our friends and the people we care about. Quarantine felt like living the same dream over and over, the headache pounding in our head, making our eyes almost impossible to keep open. All we want to do is sleep but how could we sleep when we feel we are in a dream already. We are drinking our own tears and all we can do is to put cloth over our mouths. Maybe the cloth can keep all the tears out. Staying up night after night, the only thing we have to see with is the computer light. School almost seems like a cruel joke. Deadlines, in a pandemic. Most of us haven't seen our teachers' faces. We give our time and patience to unfamiliar faces. From the outside it seems like insanity but no, it is only humanity.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Warm

Marissa Smith, Senior at Winnetonka High School, 17 years old

“I've created a work of art that reflects something that I have learned this year; self-love. I can't remember a time where I've been this confident about myself and my body. Over the course of this school year, I've been using my art to investigate concepts like confidence. Both the lack of confidence and how that hurts someone, and how we can use media to boost confidence in each other. I feel that the portrait attached represents this, simply by being a self-portrait that I am proud of.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Dirty Money

Gabby Geiger, Senior at Blue Valley North High School, 18 years old

“Dirty Money is about the relentless pursuit of wealth at the expense of nature. The subject of the piece is clothed in royalty and protected from the deadly consequences of their actions. The composition is oil paint against a textured plaster background and real United States currency. The subject appears to emerge from their own wasteland unaffected, but their hand tells a different story.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

The Escape From Reality

Sammie Gray, Freshman at Lee’s Summit High School

“I chose the prompt; month in 2020. During the month of March everything was getting canceled or shut down causing teens to experience a wave of depression. Time felt like it had slowed and everyday felt the same. This caused teens to try to disassociate from reality.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Hurtful

Isela Banks-Haupt, Northland Families Learning Together, 15 years old

Medium: Pour/Flow Acrylic on Canvas

Dimensions: (3) 8 inches x 24 inches canvases

“This three-panel painting was an experiment in testing pour acrylic on rough unprimed linen canvas. On the two side panels, I applied pour acrylic to one side and tilted the canvas to allow the paint to drip. The center panel I poured blended black and white pour acrylic and sprinkled silicone over top. I chose these shapes and colors to represent the protests during the Black Lives Matter movement that spiked throughout the month June in 2020. A toxic figure oozing. A furious figure engulfed. The black center panel is polluted by white, creating chaos and confusion. It was a scary and stressful month, and this was my take on it.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

COVID-19 Martyr

Christy Boyken, Senior at Lee's Summit High School, 18 years old

“I chose to make this piece because I felt it represented how healthcare workers were treated during the very beginning of COVID. They were just another cog in the machine, and not treated as humans, but instead as martyrs, dying for others to live.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Daybreak

Stephanie Macke, Senior at J.C Harmon High School

“I chose that title and picked that specific prompt because in my future I would like it to hold good luck and good fortune which is what rabbits represent. Also they are most active during dawn and the early mornings.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on what you want the future to look like.

Self Portrait

Edana Lynch, Senior at William H. Taft High School

“This piece is titled “Self Portrait” and was made when I was 18 (My current age), in 2021. During COVID I had many experiences that really impacted me and what I wanted for my future. Senior year was a transformative year for me and this self portrait is meant to display the emotions I have faced and me looking out onto the horizon looking towards bigger and better things in my life.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Tomorrow

Julianne Zheng, Junior at Blue Valley Northwest High School

“I wanted to contrast some of the gloomier issues of the present, such as pollution and racism, with the exciting prospect of a future in which other organisms such as birds and turtles can thrive alongside humans, as well as one where people of all colors are united and equal. I also hope to see innovations in technology such as flying, more eco-friendly cars, in addition to innovative architecture and settlements on other planets.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on what you want the future to look like.

Torrance

Finn Johnson, Sophomore at Aspen High School

Medium: Acrylic on plexiglass, 20” x 20"

“This painting is inspired by an image of Danny Torrance from Stephen King’s “The Shining” when he encounters the twins outside of Room 217. This painting symbolizes the fear I have felt throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It was made in August of 2020, during a significant shift in my life. The painting acts as a messenger for the emotions I was feeling during August 2020, and it embodies the resistance and anxiety I was feeling towards starting the school year online.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Legacy

Bennett Stirtz, Junior at Liberty High School, 17 years old

“Kobe was a leader not just for the basketball community, but for others as well. Everyone was devastated to hear the news in January of 2020 of his passing, but he will live on forever.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Birthday

Chloe Vaughan, Freshman at Winnetonka High School, 15 years old

“I decided to take inspiration from all three prompts. This piece was inspired by my own birthday which was in October. I chose this because it reflects the setting and theme of the artwork (prompt 1).  It also reflects this year and how the pandemic damaged much of our social lives, ruining birthday parties and leaving us to our own devices (prompt 3). And finally this piece also shows the real truth of our future, whether we want it or not life goes on. You start to spend your birthdays alone, and soon the word birthday will lose its meaning entirely (Prompt 2).”

In The Dark

Haylee Baldwin, Sophomore at Winnetonka High School

“I spent most of this school year doing everything virtual and quarantined, which was challenging and lonely. This is my self-portrait reflecting that time of isolation, and it is the first time I have ever drawn something so big and realistic, and I really loved drawing it this way.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you discovered about yourself this year.

Opportunities

Kimi Capule, Freshman at Shawnee Mission West High School

“What I want in my future is exactly what the title of this piece is, opportunities, which is mainly what these ferris wheels represent. After a bit of research, I learned that ferris wheels symbolize opportunities, joy, and life. I am only a ninth-grader, however I've been thinking hard about what I wanted my future to be like, like what career I'd pursue, where to live in the future, relationships when I'm older, etc. I'm still not sure what the answers to these questions are just yet, which is why I hope that later on during my highschool years, I'll be able get many opportunities (like this one!) to learn what I like and don't like, so that I'll be able to make a sure decision when the time comes.

The art medias I used were sketching pencils, ink pens, charcoal and white chalk. I used sketching pencils for the sun and clouds, ink pens for the floating islands and ferris wheels, and the same pens along with charcoal for the shadows. I also used various references for designing the ferris wheels.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on what you want the future to look like.

Month from Hell

Madeline Jonscher, Senior at De Soto High School

“I created this piece based on the beginning of quarantine and the pandemic which was around the end March through April. The world was so uninformed about this new virus and all we had to compare it to was previous pandemics, which did not even occur in my grandparents' lifetimes. It was a really rough time for myself which I expressed through my art. Everyone was not supposed to leave their dwellings which really took a toll on people's mental health. My piece of a doctor from the Black Plague represents how in March and April of 2020 mental health was decreasing because we did not know how to protect ourselves, other than isolation and masks, in the current day COVID-19 pandemic.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Fier de Fleur

Hunter Procter, Junior at Olathe South High School, 17 years old

“Fier de Fleur meaning "Pride of [the] Flower" represents how much I learned about myself  in 2020 and that I can stand alone and fight for what I believe in. This was a very difficult thing for me to do for the longest time because I always thought I would offend someone by sticking up for myself. This photo reminds me that it takes courage to stand alone and that I should be proud that I am willing to do it.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Les Cartes de L'Avenir

Hunter Procter, Junior at Olathe South High School, 17 years old

“Les Cartes de L'Avenir meaning "The Cards of the Future" represents how I would want my future to look. I have found a passion for photography and cinematography that has been unshakeable within the last year and helped me a lot during the COVID quarantine. I definitely see photography as being a part of my future, but we never know what cards I'll flip over!”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on what you want the future to look like.

Mask Up

Keri Sherer, Junior at Blue Valley High School, 17 years old

“About my work- with this photoshoot we were all given a prompt to go off of. Mine was to create something that could represent peoples journey throughout Covid-19. My mind went to masks. In the past i have always wanted to do a milk bath photoshoot but never went along with it because i like my work to have a story. Now it finally does. As me and my model placed masks in the water we could see the piece coming together. The detail i like the most is the fact that both her hands have object in them, one a flower and one the strings of her mask.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Speak Up

Abby Dixon, Senior at Winnetonka High School, 18 years old

“I picked this prompt because I have learned a lot about myself this year, I have learned that my feelings are valid, my story is important, and that I have a voice. I feel like my artwork, titled "Speak up" portrays this. It is a drawing with charcoal, prismacolor, and chalk pastel. It is the same girl drawn twice. In the first drawing she is being silenced, She is not able to tell her story. She has no color, because it was taken from her. The other girl, she is not allowing anyone to tell her what to do anymore. She is yelling, telling her story. She got her color that was stolen from her back.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Butterflies

Lydia Pope, Senior at Blue Valley Northwest High School

“My piece, "Butterflies", is based on the prompt: something that I have discovered about myself this year. In the past I never knew who I truly was and never knew how to define myself, but over the last couple of months I have started gaining confidence in myself and learning who I am. The two outside pieces reflect the sense of being lost in my own skin, and the inside piece is me finally finding that confidence and learning how to love myself.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

November

Eilish Ye, Sophomore at Lincoln College Prep Academy, 16 years old.

“I chose the prompt of a month in 2020. This piece is called “November” because it captures a common feeling people probably felt during that time. Being home all the time does take a toll on you, quarantine or not. It was a scary month, and I don’t doubt many people felt the same way. Although this clearly takes a more angsty approach toward the emotion, I think it dramatically shows how I, along with most likely many others felt. Sitting in your room all day looking at a computer screen can be pretty isolating, and it takes a lot to willingly do everyday things when you’re in that state. I just hope whoever can see themselves in this is doing well now, and if not, then eventually.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

Hannah Wheeler, Junior at Liberty High School, 16 years old

“In my design, I wanted to focus a little bit on how, when we look back and reflect on 2020 and all the things that happened that year, we will always remember some of these key events that have affected us moving forward into 2021 and that will continue to affect us and influence our lives as we continue moving forward. August became a month to remember in particular. The Commitment March happened in Washington DC, Kobe Bryant Day was established, the shocking death of Chadwick Boseman with news of his secret battle with cancer, and schools across the nation were trying to figure out how to open while still in the midst of a pandemic.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on a month in 2020.

Alone With My Anxiety

Ava Duckworth, Sophomore at Lee’s Summit High School, 16 years old

“This year, I discovered that I let my fears and anxiety take control of my life.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

And there’s nothing to be done

Stefani Maricic, Senior at Winnetonka High School

“I chose the third prompt as I took AP Art History this year and fell in love with it, so I wanted to make a work that incorporated my favorite artists and movements. To convey that while these art movements have come and gone they have left a profound remark on not just history, but individual people me included. The world would have simply been lost without art and I’m very grateful for my teacher as she truly taught me the importance of art and the preservation of it.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Double Personalities 

Alex Shelton, Sophomore at Winnetonka High School

“This is a work of art that reflects something I’ve discovered about myself this year. There are two sides to me, both trying to break free and separate themselves because of how different they are. One side of me is bright, colorful and stands out among others, but you can find the darkness in it (hence the background color compared to the other). The other side is dull, dark and blends in with the crowd, but from time to time you can find the brightness in it.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Lines with Lines

Ashley Gutierrez, Sophomore at Winnetonka High School

“This piece focuses on shading and depth to help portray a realistic charcoal version of me. As well as using different lines to show different shapes and emotions of the face. I’ve discovered this year that my tendencies to blend in as a person wasn’t doing me any good. So I chose to step out, be different and with this artwork I practiced that. I blended but remembered not to blend in.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you have discovered about yourself this year.

Overwhelmed yet Determined

Gabe Farr, Senior at Rays of Sun Home School Academy, 18 years old

Medium: Pour Acrylic and Masking Tape on canvas

Dimensions: 11 in x 14 in

“I created this piece by stretching masking tape over a primed canvas and then applying and manipulating acrylic pour paint over the canvas.  The colors and the lines reflect how I have felt over this past year. The colors represent being overwhelmed as in drowning.  The lines have a upward direction reminding me of rising above and overcoming.  In the year 2020 I discovered that even if I’m overwhelmed if I’m determined I will overcome and reach my goals.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you discovered about yourself this year.

Making Peace

Jessica Lehnardt, Freshman at Liberty High School

“What I want to see in the future is us as people coming together to help our world become better.”

Prompt: Create a work of art based on what you want the future to look like.

Garden of Growth

Morgan Rippy, Freshman from Winnetonka High School, 14 years old

“My artwork, Garden of Growth, represents me coming out as non-binary and me growing into myself and becoming more confident.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you discovered about yourself this year.

Icarus

Cara Emerson

Sophomore at Winnetonka High School, 15 years old

“I personally, found out I have ambitions too high for my own good. I’ve always had trouble setting reasonable goals, and, like Icarus, I flew too close to the sun and crashed and burned. Thankfully, not literally. Even during this project I had high ambitions, I used charcoal for the drawing, which is one of my least favorite methods, because it always turns out messy.”

Prompt: Create a work of art that reflects something you discovered about yourself this year.