Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Menlo’s students, AP Art Night, a showcase of the work that students had created during the year, was largely viewed as successful. Staff photo: Caroline Frantz.

By Caroline Frantz

Menlo’s annual AP Art Night on May 15 was a lively and successful event. At this function, students in the AP Art class showcased their work through two forms, a breadth and a concentration with a specific theme.

“Every student had a concentration of 12 pieces, which has a theme of their choosing, and breadth of 12 pieces that does not follow a theme throughout the pieces,” said junior and AP Art student Kathryn Wilson. During the night, each student presented a slideshow or movie explaining their inspiration for their artworks.

“A breadth is a collection of works that displays technical skills” sophomore Melody Zhou said.

In addition to the specific collections, seniors showed a portfolio which consisted 24 pieces accumulated over the course of their high school art classes. “Capping off the event was a heartfelt speech by Kaitlin Hao,” art teacher Nina Ollikainen said. “She showcased her three paintings [which she] created during her time as TA for the class.”

Hao, a senior, took AP Art as a sophomore and gave advice to the students during their time in the class. She felt that it was hard to space out the work required for the class throughout the year. “One of the things I struggled with was doing enough work first semester,” Hao said. “I really pushed the students to overestimate the time it will take to complete all their pieces.”

In her speech, Hao talked about her love of art, and about her hopes of continuing as an artist through college. “For me, art is all about the pursuit of the next thing: the next idea, the next project, the next improvement. Although art is such a transient thing, I hope that this hobby and this passion will be a comfort to be as I move into the next chapter in my life,” Hao wrote.

Both the seniors and Ollikainen were pleased with the support they received. “AP Art Night was a big success. Family, friends, and faculty were all in attendance cheering on the budding artists.” Ollikainen said. “It is a long process [that] requires great dedication to the craft, and all students came through with flying colors.”