The annual AP Art show is back—with upgrades. Welcome to the “Spring Art Show,” an exhibition that combines the works of this year’s AP Art students with those from National Art Honor Society (NAHS) members and any other art enthusiast at Shanghai American School into a series of displays.
The show takes place in the Performing Arts Center from April 18th to the 28th. According to the event’s organizer, Ms. Kim Sajan, the idea of a collective art show sparked from the problem that the AP Art class only contained six students.
“Originally, we only wanted to include artworks from other Advanced art classes, since they have also put in so much effort into their creations but never had an opportunity to showcase this hard work,” said Ms. Sajan. “But after the art department thought about it, we came to the conclusion of: why not celebrate all art that can be found in SAS’s high school?”
Besides the inclusion of artworks from students outside of the AP class, the exhibition also collaborated with NAHS to host a fundraising event on the day of the show’s opening. Purchasable items included canvas photography, tote bags, posters, postcards, and stickers that were all designed by NAHS members. The total proceed of 640RMB from this sale will be going to SAS worker Xiao Jian, who is receiving cancer treatment.
As the exhibition signifies the end of the year for the AP Art class, one of it’s student’s, senior Ming Li Chang, decided to exit the class with a literal “mic drop”—well, literal as in digitalized into the promotional poster of the show, as shown below. According to Chang, he poured the stress he experienced this year as well as the relief of completing all of his projects works into the design.
Located in the PAC before the Spring Art Show was this year’s IB Art exhibition, which, once again, didn’t fail to impress either.
The exhibition features works from “The Eight”—eight Year 2 IB Art students with differing cultures, concentration themes, and stories to tell. Besides influence from the size of her class, their teacher, Ms. Lucy Atkinson, also said she was inspired by the number eight’s significance in Chinese culture. “It’s viewed with such positivity that I think it accurately captures everyone’s reaction to the amount of talent seen in the exhibition,” she said.
This year’s art show was definitely worth a visit, according to exhibition participant and senior Michael Tian. “I feel like every artist has something unique to say through their art,” said Tian. “It’s an opportunity for students to express their perspective on the world around them on a unique platform.”
The individuality of the viewpoints and values expressed was also confirmed by Ms. Atkinson. “Even just by reading the rationales themselves, you can see that the stories the students have decided to share are very sensitive and personal,” she said. “Most importantly, they’re all different, and I am very proud of how brave they are to experiment with such distinct styles and explore such intimate experiences through art.”
Reminiscing about his own experience as a visitor of the exhibitions from previous classes, Tian regards these visits as one of the biggest highlights of his time at SAS. “Each year [the show] has challenged my own worldview or taught me something remarkable about the artists.”
Although this year’s IB Art show has already ended, Everyone is welcome and encouraged to visit the Spring Art Show, which is open to visitors during school hours. Whether you're an artist yourself or not, missing the show would be a great shame, as the students promise that there will be at least one piece that will leave a lasting impression.
Angela Ma
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| First floor of the Spring Art Show from other high school art students besides those in AP Art, taken by Angela Ma |
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| Opening day of the Spring Art Show, taken by Angela Ma |
Besides the inclusion of artworks from students outside of the AP class, the exhibition also collaborated with NAHS to host a fundraising event on the day of the show’s opening. Purchasable items included canvas photography, tote bags, posters, postcards, and stickers that were all designed by NAHS members. The total proceed of 640RMB from this sale will be going to SAS worker Xiao Jian, who is receiving cancer treatment.
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| NAHS charity sale for Xiao Jian at the opening of the Spring Art Show, taken by Angela Ma |
As the exhibition signifies the end of the year for the AP Art class, one of it’s student’s, senior Ming Li Chang, decided to exit the class with a literal “mic drop”—well, literal as in digitalized into the promotional poster of the show, as shown below. According to Chang, he poured the stress he experienced this year as well as the relief of completing all of his projects works into the design.
Located in the PAC before the Spring Art Show was this year’s IB Art exhibition, which, once again, didn’t fail to impress either.
The exhibition features works from “The Eight”—eight Year 2 IB Art students with differing cultures, concentration themes, and stories to tell. Besides influence from the size of her class, their teacher, Ms. Lucy Atkinson, also said she was inspired by the number eight’s significance in Chinese culture. “It’s viewed with such positivity that I think it accurately captures everyone’s reaction to the amount of talent seen in the exhibition,” she said.
This year’s art show was definitely worth a visit, according to exhibition participant and senior Michael Tian. “I feel like every artist has something unique to say through their art,” said Tian. “It’s an opportunity for students to express their perspective on the world around them on a unique platform.”
The individuality of the viewpoints and values expressed was also confirmed by Ms. Atkinson. “Even just by reading the rationales themselves, you can see that the stories the students have decided to share are very sensitive and personal,” she said. “Most importantly, they’re all different, and I am very proud of how brave they are to experiment with such distinct styles and explore such intimate experiences through art.”
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| Wide array of media and topics explored by the IB Art Y2 students, taken by Angela Ma |
Reminiscing about his own experience as a visitor of the exhibitions from previous classes, Tian regards these visits as one of the biggest highlights of his time at SAS. “Each year [the show] has challenged my own worldview or taught me something remarkable about the artists.”
Although this year’s IB Art show has already ended, Everyone is welcome and encouraged to visit the Spring Art Show, which is open to visitors during school hours. Whether you're an artist yourself or not, missing the show would be a great shame, as the students promise that there will be at least one piece that will leave a lasting impression.
Angela Ma
