Inspired by her father’s photography, Seabury Hall senior Makena Wolford embarked on a painting project that was eventually showcased at the AP Art Show earlier this month.
“The theme of my portfolio was recreating my dad’s [photographic] art through paintings with my own hints of my little doodles I do in my sketchbook,” Wolford said. “The theme is mainly ocean and water based [displaying the movement and beauty of the ocean/water].”
Her art pieces range from detailed acrylic paintings of the movement of water in the barrel of waves to intricate rocks you find at Maui’s local beaches. Wolford’s art was showcased alongside seniors Makalani Carey and Iona Asher.
The process and hard work that went into executing this art show included months of preparation of art pieces from each of the artists, as they were all tasked with beginning their AP Art portfolios as early as the summer of 2023.
“The process of completing each piece was pretty difficult but some of them went faster than others. Some of them took me 5-6 hours of me just sitting at my house and cranking them out and some of them I’ve been working on and off for about the past two months [before fully completing the piece]”.
Along with the hardship of beginning a piece and leaving it unfinished before coming back and polishing it, Wolford and her peers faced a significant challenge with the recent absence of their AP Art instructor, Lenda McGehee.
“Ms. McGhehee’s absence at my AP Art Show was a real bummer because she was just so proud and excited of all of her students and it was really sad [to say the least]. She was really connected with all of her students and was so excited for all of us so it was a bummer she couldn’t see our showcases.”
Given the final portfolio that is to be submitted to the AP College Board is not due until April, Wolford still has four remaining pieces to finish in order to complete her 15 piece portfolio. Although Wolford has not fully completed her final portfolio yet, she is excited to see how her portfolio unfolds as a collective whole in the spring.
