About the Exhibition

The AP program of the International Department offers 23 art courses for students to choose and study, including AP 2-D Art and Design &Drawing, and AP 3-D Art and Design & Photography. The annual art exhibition reflects students' mastery of class knowledge and displays their strong application ability. The theme of this exhibition is Seven Thousand Miles To Infinity. Ms Estes explained, "Most of the class are seniors, all but 2 are going to the US. I had to fly from the US to return, the distance is 7,000 miles. Infinity refers to their unlimited possibilities. ”

Yue MuQiao, Class of 2022

AP 2D Art and Design and AP Drawing are two college-level art courses with the goal of completing a series of artworks individually based on self-developed inquires. The general outline of the course structure would be as follows. First, students would brainstorm an inquiry in the first two weeks of class with the help of the AP teacher and classmates. The inquiry should be a question the student cares about, driven by curiosity, interest, and passion. Then, students would work on his/her sustained investigation by creating pieces of art based on the determined inquiry, completing fifteen artworks in total. That leaves us to finish at least seven to eight artworks per semester.

After establishing the large picture, let’s focus on the studio routine! Students’ daily activity in the studio can be separated into three significant composites: Work on the sustained investigation, learn more knowledge about art, and experiment.

First, students have to work efficiently and productively to complete high-quality art pieces, which might be a little overwhelming at first. Fortunately, Mrs. Estes and our fellow students are always to our aid. Typically, students are first exposed to new inspiration, ideas, and brainstorms. After that, students would have time to create a draft, improve it after peer evaluation, and review it again by Mrs. Estes for the final polish. Secondly, the studio is where students can learn more knowledge about art via art history lectures, YouTube art videos, and famous artists’ works and deeds. Last but not least, students can feel free to experiment with art creation of all sorts since the studio grants us all kinds of art materials. Mrs. Estes is also continuously offering us new ideas and methods to experiment with, and “string art” is one of the examples.

Students will benefit a lot from the course in two aspects. First, students can practice and improve their art skills, being able to express ideas with high proficiency. Writing skills is also essential since language is the tool to verbalize, explain, and interpret our art works so that others can understand them contextually. Behind skills, students grasped important philosophies in life: always experiment, think deeply, work hard, and don’t be afraid to dive into the unknown. The journey AP 2D Art and Design and AP Drawing provide grants everyone creativity, diligence, and intelligence.

Wu Zhaoyi, Class of 2022

AP 2-D Art and Design(Photography) is a comprehensive class where students can learn not only photography related knowledge, but also basic art principles. Students are able to appreciate different inspirational works from different artists. The subject instructor Ms. Ellen Estes, often finds the artists or particular work that she thinks could inspire a certain student with his or her sustained investigation and shows them in class.

Before joining AP 2-D Art and Design-Photography this school year I had not taken any art classes at BNDS. I never got the chance to know the many art principles and terms before my senior year. So, this is a brand-new experience for me. After taking this course, I gradually obtained the habit to examine every photographic work with all the art knowledge learned from this class. And when I take photos now, I will consider carefully about how to make them more artistic. For example, I frame and think about composition. It is now a habit of mine. I won’t forget the things I learned from this class. They are really a part of me.