2023 Senior nominees
Leslie Sandoval Serrano - BUFFALO GROVE HIGH SCHOOL
Through art, I can illustrate my imagination with perspectives that others might not consider; in doing so, I am able to demonstrate both my cultural heritage and my artistic development while also expressing myself. I discovered that I was drawn to flowers, plants, and colors in my artworks, and I gradually began to include these interests into each piece I created. The abstracted images allowed me to incorporate meaning in a creative way that left the piece open for interpretation. In addition, while adding cultural themes and components that shape my thoughts and ideas, I focused more on the empowerment of women and self love in my recent artwork. Hence the hints of the female figures showing up in some of the individual pieces. Through the process of growth, the beginning of the color overload, became a symbol for expression and my internalized feelings. The "alebrijes" piece was the first to liberate and lead me down a more enjoyable and colorful route. I was able to produce art that was filled with passion when I was sketching solely for enjoyment and without concern for making mistakes or needing to produce a perfect image.
Julia Naumowicz - elk grove high school
My work tries to capture the emotions and thoughts I feel in a moment of weakness or a moment of calm. I use my surroundings, mainly nature, to depict this. When I’m walking around, I find myself snapping endless pictures. These photographs became the inspiration for my paintings. I am constantly inspired by nature and its nuances. From its beauty to how a human can stand beside it. All those things tie into my pieces.
Nature is a large part of my work. It has such natural awe-inspiring beauty, power, and mystery. I couldn’t have picked a better muse. The calmness and clarity that it has given me in difficult times are another. When I have a hard time turning to others for help, a peaceful walk is medicine to me. A warm breeze on a 65-degree day and the hot sun peeking out from behind the clouds. Even a rainy day when the humidity is bogging down the air and you can smell the petrichor, is welcomed. The smell of damp soil, the feeling of dirt under your nails, and the promise of new growth is healing. The constant noise of life is drowned out by the simplicity that is nature.
Nature is a large part of my work. It has such natural awe-inspiring beauty, power, and mystery. I couldn’t have picked a better muse. The calmness and clarity that it has given me in difficult times are another. When I have a hard time turning to others for help, a peaceful walk is medicine to me. A warm breeze on a 65-degree day and the hot sun peeking out from behind the clouds. Even a rainy day when the humidity is bogging down the air and you can smell the petrichor, is welcomed. The smell of damp soil, the feeling of dirt under your nails, and the promise of new growth is healing. The constant noise of life is drowned out by the simplicity that is nature.
grace haapapuro - JOHN HERSEY HIGH SCHOOL
I’ve focused my Sustained Investigation on women and the concept of femininity, because that’s what inspires and empowers me the most. I’ve covered topics such as celebrating girlhood and femininity, appreciating inspiring women, and recognizing the struggles we face. I’ve used my art to express my experience as a girl and capture many aspects of my life, from playing dress-up as a child to facing adversity from society.
Adam Boesen - prospect high school
All of the pieces represent the average teenager's life: the ups, downs, interests, passions, and mental health issues that are involved with growing up in today's society. Each piece displayed means something special to me, each in its own way, and accurately represents the various facets of the person I have become. I feel rewarded when I capture things I am greatly passionate about in such a special way. For example, to represent the band room, a place I spent countless hours in, I used varied line weights and cross hatching to give a worn-in feel to the piece. Using loose strokes, the age of the room is shown through the mark making. In another piece, I used white charcoal on black paper to give the sense of a dark face in a dark room. In this particular piece,my face was under lit and there were no bright colors used, to represent the time I spend awake late at night on a phone or computer. I have selected all of these pieces because each work of art shows the wide range of genres that I have explored during my art classes at Prospect High School.
ANNA STOYKO - ROLLING MEADOWS HIGH SCHOOL
This year I wanted to create art that was more personal to me. The most important thing in my life is actually one of my biggest insecurities. Usually people’s insecurities are their body, hair, acne , etc. which they can work towards changing. My insecurity, however, is something that’ll never change. It can’t be cured. I wanted to create art that represents my reality, something that I can show other people to help them understand what I have. My art is to show how I moved through life being a type one diabetic.
HYUNYOUNG MO - wheeling high school
Growing up in a conservative Korean community, I struggled with extrinsic influences and how I internalized them. I focused on different standards or accepted rituals associated with niche experiences and issues in Korean culture, highlighting my feelings, but leaving room for the viewer to interpret the meaning of the piece for themselves based on their own cultural positionality.
One of my personal experiences focuses on Korean beauty standards, especially related to the practice of “creating” double eyelids through taping or plastic surgery to assimilate to western beauty standards. To accentuate the continuity of beauty standards, I referenced different generations in my family examining their own eyelids (as if through a mirror), in the form of a triptych. In another revision of this piece, I took each drawing and folded it into origami. The act of folding the drawing represents the physical manipulation of the eyelid. Another custom in Korean culture is to apologize by giving fruit. To me, the act of giving fruit never fully resolves the issue because the fruit represents an apology, without effectively communicating the reason why the person is apologizing or needs to apologize for. I continued with this idea in another piece, using photography to project the words, “I’m Sorry” on myself and pieces of fruit. The projection of the words “I’m Sorry” represents the superficial intent behind the apologies and the inability to truly “absorb” the words.
One of my personal experiences focuses on Korean beauty standards, especially related to the practice of “creating” double eyelids through taping or plastic surgery to assimilate to western beauty standards. To accentuate the continuity of beauty standards, I referenced different generations in my family examining their own eyelids (as if through a mirror), in the form of a triptych. In another revision of this piece, I took each drawing and folded it into origami. The act of folding the drawing represents the physical manipulation of the eyelid. Another custom in Korean culture is to apologize by giving fruit. To me, the act of giving fruit never fully resolves the issue because the fruit represents an apology, without effectively communicating the reason why the person is apologizing or needs to apologize for. I continued with this idea in another piece, using photography to project the words, “I’m Sorry” on myself and pieces of fruit. The projection of the words “I’m Sorry” represents the superficial intent behind the apologies and the inability to truly “absorb” the words.