WELCOME TO {VIRTUAL} SENIOR SPOTLIGHT 2021

The Senior Spotlight Exhibition was created in order to showcase the hard work and growth of graduating seniors who have developed an impressive portfolio of artwork throughout their time in Central´s art program. This exhibition takes place at Central´s annual art show and is without a doubt the highlight of the year for our art department. Although the larger show had to be limited to an online showing, we are proud to progress towards some normalcy by honoring the incredible endurance of this year’s seniors with both a physical exhibition in our school library and with this online exhibition. These seniors have truly triumphed in the face of an unprecedented high school experience and each artwork should be counted as a victory. Therefore, we hope displaying their portfolios shines a well-deserved light on each student, allows the public a peek into their beautiful minds, and portrays our incredible pride in being witness to what we hope is only the start of their own unique art journey.

ART MEMORY / Doodling pictures of ducks.

PLANS / I will be Univeristy of Illinois Urbana Champaign

CHS IMPACT / I've had tons of fun and made new friends!

COURSES / AP Drawing

RUICHEN

BAI

My current art is about people and how they relate to the world. As of now I'm using acrylic and board.

GEORGE MICAH CHILIGIRIS

I don’t wanna undersell myself, but I’m really just here to have a good time. I personally find like art starts to feel like work once I take it seriously, and I’m a terrible worker, so I try to sprinkle some humor or lightheartedness into all my artworks to contrast whatever vibe they might otherwise give off. Self-aware, joke-y or parodic elements always find their way into whatever I’m working on, even if they’re not always up front or noticeable. I do my thing on pencil and paper, but recently have been experimenting with pen and the lot.

ART MEMORY / I’m really bad at remembering things and thus cannot recall a single moment to answer this question with. I, uh, enjoyed doing this.

PLANS / 2 years Community College, 4 years University of Illinois - Communications and Cinema Studies major

COURSES / Art Foundations, Intro to Cinema Studies, Drawing Studio, Photography Studio

CHS IMPACT / It’s given me the opportunity to experiment with a variety of materials and styles that I otherwise might have never tried. Granted, I don’t use any of ‘em, but I tried them out! Also, being in school is so largely boring and monotonous that it’s easier for my mind to wander and find inspiration for art, or feel motivated to do anything other than schoolwork.

ADVICE / Don’t take multiple art courses in the same semester. Seriously. If you care about always releasing a product you’re proud of, the workload is gonna be insane. That might just be my senioritis setting in, though.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Art Survey 2, Graphic Design Studio, Drawing Studio, AP 2D Art and Design

PLANS / Studying Art and Design at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

ART MEMORY / My favorite art memory is having enough motivation to draw something new everyday.

CHS IMPACT / Being an art student at Central has made me experiment and try new things.

ADVICE / Don’t be afraid to take big leaps.

SKYE

DALY

My art is about emotion. I use Sketchbook Autodesk to create my pieces digitally.

FRANCES

DAVIS

A lot of personal art focuses on characters and the interconnectedness of people. I work a lot with just regular pencil or digital.

ART MEMORY / My first art show at Central where I was actually displayed at U of I.

PLANS / Planning on heading over to Northern University to become a Huskie!

COURSES / Art Foundations, Art Survey 2, Drawing Studio, Painting Studio, Photography Studio, and AP 2-D Art and Design (twice)

CHS IMPACT / All the art teachers at central are super inspiring and caring. They’re working really hard to make the classes both fun and informative!!

ADVICE / Just go for it! It'll be messy and you might scrape things but its actually really fun to experiment in art.

COURSES / Drawing Studio, Photography Studio and Painting Studio2-D AP Art and Design

Advice: Do everything with passion.

PLANS / Major in Social Work at Parkland College.

CHS IMPACT / For me art is a way of expressing how I feel, and it has a great impact on my life because I used to express myself, with this covid situation art helped me a lot.

ART MEMORY / I made lots of friends, when we were in person I enjoyed doing art with my friends and learning about other artists as well. , drawing and talking about the craziest things to all my friends. We’d also talk about our pieces and bounce ideas off each other, it was great.

PAULA GIRON RIVERA

When I do art I like playing with colors and mixing to make paintings that I like. Lately I have been working on making portraits and landscapes mainly beauty.

IONA HOPPING

I love making art that’s fun to make and look at, that’s of interesting places and characters that could be in stories. I used to mainly use watercolor and acrylic paint, but this year I began exploring digital art and it opened up a completely new world of styles and tools for me to explore!

ART MEMORY / Exploring and going on adventures to find cool places to take pictures in photography class

PLANS / I’m going to attend UIUC with a major in Studio Art

CHS IMPACT / Being an art student allowed me to explore something that I had no idea that I would enjoy so much when I was first going into high school. It made me realize what I actually wanted to study in college and gave me the confidence to actually pursue it!

ADVICE / Art doesn’t have to just happen in your art class! You have 8 class periods for a reason, sketch on all your worksheets… notebooks… tests… DBQs… school will instantly become more fun and you’ll get in so much practice :)

COURSES / Art Survey I, Photography, Drawing, Painting, AP 2-D Art & Design

ART MEMORY / This wasn’t inside of an art classroom, but my favorite art memories are from the times I would just blast my favorite songs while I would be making my artworks in my room. Something about music and art just work so well together.

PLANS / 4-year art college - Design - SVA NYC

CHS IMPACT / A lot. I’ve learned so much from all my teachers, whether it be new techniques, suggestions, etc. to develop the insight I have today. My classmates as well, as certain works I’ve seen fueled my fire to constantly become the best I can and to try my best to think differently than my competition. (Friendly, of course).

ADVICE / Never overestimate yourself, especially in your sophomore, junior year. There is still a very long road ahead until you can truly find your very own developed style. Also, try to expand your mediums! Sticking to just one thing might be comfortable at first, but it becomes very limited and boring later on. Learn to alternate between them, fuse them, etc. Play around with it, because you can make anything you want. That’s why art is so great.

COURSES / Art Survey, Drawing, Painting, Graphic Design, AP Pathways 2-D Design, AP 2D Design, Photography

MINCHUL KWAK

Creative, colorful design. My art needs to be able to draw the human mind into it right away; to notice all the little details and have fun satisfying the eyes. I like to stick to digital drawings and design, but I’m always up for a challenge. How else would I get better?

HOPE

LEE

My current art is based mostly in the digital medium and is centered around my interest in character design, my Korean heritage, and my past inquiry questions. While I do like creating my own monsters and character designs, I still enjoy making art featuring real-life animals because I find inspiration in the natural beauty of animals. When it comes to my Korean heritage and past inquiry questions, art has been a pivotal way for me to explore and express my culture while focusing on the many aspects of life.

ART MEMORY / Creating my college portfolio and putting all my best pieces together was my favorite art memory.

PLANS / Majoring in Animation at SCAD

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Graphic Design, Drawing Studio, Photography Studio, Painting Studio, AP 2D Design, and AP Drawing.

CHS IMPACT / I was able to experience all kinds of art styles, mediums, and careers. Learning to participate in critiques and give my own critiques will be very valuable to me when I pursue my career in animation at SCAD.

ADVICE / It is very important to take as many classes as you can that interest you so you can expose yourself to as many different career choices as possible. If you can’t decide, that’s okay, just remember to keep your options open.

PLANS / I will attend Parkland for 2 years and transfer to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to complete a degree in Art Education.

CHS IMPACT / I probably wouldn’t want to become an art teacher if I wasn’t involved in the Central art department. I definitely wouldn’t have as many pieces in my portfolio of work either.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Art Survey 2, Photography, Drawing, Graphic Design, AP 2-D Art & Design twice

ADVICE / Try as many different materials as you can and spend a lot of time in the art room.

ART MEMORY / Spending all day after school in the art room making no progress and just talking.

SOPHIE MORGAN

A lot of my pieces explore how mental illnesses affect you, from my perception of myself, those around me, concepts such as time, to feelings such as numbness. I like to practice how to express a similar idea in many artworks, such as being disconnected, and explore what type of imagery can connect them, such as hands and heads. I’ve used materials like collage, colored pencil, charcoal, and digital photography.

ANJU MURPHY

I love exploring people with my art. People have so much variety in the way they look and pose and act, and it’s exciting to explore those differences and find out what makes someone tick. I primarily use digital software to draw, and in the future I hope to branch into animation and design with what I’ve learned.

ART MEMORY / Making my first polished game, Watchdog, with my brother for Ludum Dare Game Jam 46.

PLANS / Attending the University of Southern California, majoring in Interactive Entertainment.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Drawing, AP 2D Art and Design

CHS IMPACT / During my time at Central, I’ve gotten to learn so much. I appreciate that I’ve been able to get a grounded knowledge of the basics in Art Survey 1 and Drawing, and then been allowed to experiment in AP 2D Art and Design. It’s left me a better artist than I could’ve ever hoped to be learning on my own.

ADVICE / Don’t be afraid to suck! Being bad is the first step to being good, and experimentation can help you a lot in the long run, even if the art you’re making isn’t up to your standards right now.

ART MEMORY / Walking around outside to draw still lifes in Drawing class.

PLANS / Art with and emphasis in education

CHS IMPACT / It encouraged me to work harder to improve my artwork.

COURSES / Art Foundations, Drawing Studio, AP 2D Art and Design

ADVICE / Don't limit yourself. Try different mediums and styles even if you suck at them because you'll still learn things that will improve your other work.

ALEX RUMMEL

I enjoy exploring material manipulation in different mediums. It's fun trying to find new textures and techniques and then figuring out how to use them.

MIKAH SCANTLEBURY

My art usually includes animals and violence and how I can convey human emotions through them. I primarily use ink.

ART MEMORY / I drew a demon in church as a child.

PLANS / 2 years at Parkland, transfer to a 4 year university

CHS IMPACT / It’s made me work faster and get used to talking to other people.

COURSES / Art Survey 1, Drawing, AP 2-D Art and Design

ADVICE / Don’t procrastinate, it will harm you.

ART MEMORY / Making Deep Fried edits of things on picsart my freshman and sophomore year

PLANS / Majoring in Architecture at UIUC

CHS IMPACT / I learned that everyone is different when it comes to experience and style.

COURSES / Painting Studio, Graphic Design, Drawing Studio & Photography

ADVICE / It’s never too late to start on something you’re interested in and don’t worry about making mistakes.

ALEXANDER WELLENS

My art at the moment is mostly digital photo editing but I use it to bend reality. I change small things to get a different perspective, highlight things that aren’t so noticeable and combine images to make something new. I try to create balance to the point where it’s not doing too much but it’s more interesting than too simple. I do my art mostly for my personal enjoyment, just trying to make something that looks cool, and to possibly use in the future in some monetary fashion.

THANK YOU TO OUR JURORS

Kelly Hieronymus Whiting

and Stephen Signa-Aviles

CHAMPAIGN CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL VISUAL ARTS DEPARTMENT