Student artwork featured in Miami art museum
Art lovers need not search far for museum quality paintings. High quality art can be found close to home.
Ashley Smith, a freshman majoring in graphic arts, is one of only 30 art students selected to have her artwork featured at the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art in a special exhibition set up to showcase artwork of Advanced Placement Program (AP) Studio Art students.
Smith’s work was chosen from a field of approximately 19,000 art portfolios submitted for the competition.
The associate director of public affairs at the College Board, Jennifer Topiel, said the exhibition and reception went well.
“The students were thrilled to be there and the first lady of Florida, Columba Bush, who spoke at the event, was thrilled to be there. The event showcased some of the best art students in the country,” Topiel said.
Smith said she has been doing art since she was a child but she has only been painting for the last couple of years. When she found out her work had been selected for the exhibition she was really excited, especially because of the potential scholarship
opportunities.
She said she tries to emulate the styles of her high school AP Studio Art teacher Roger Cushing, who in her opinion is amazing and can do everything. She has also been influenced by the American artist John Singer Sargent.
“Sargent uses big brush strokes you can see. It’s called a painterly style,” she said. “I try to focus my style on basic old fashioned art. I like doing portraits and I also like doing realistic art.”
Smith plans to finish her art degree at USU and start a graphics art business with her sister. She also said it has been her lifelong dream to work for Disney and design animation.
Smith attended a reception in Miami on Sept. 14 to honor the selected AP art students. The College Board flew the students in from all over the country to attend the event.
“It was cool. We got put up in a nice hotel right on Miami Beach. The first lady of Florida spoke. Lots of pictures were taken and The Miami Herald interviewed me. We also got lots of handouts for art colleges,” Smith said.
The judges for the exhibition, composed of university and secondary school art instructors, came from all over the country to grade and evaluate the students’ art. The large number of portfolios submitted meant it is a huge honor to be selected for the exhibition.
Smith’s work was also selected for next year’s AP art poster, to be sent to all AP Studio Art students in the country. Fifteen of the 30 students selected for the exhibition received this honor.
College Board President Gaston Caperton said the artwork presented indicates the high level of achievement students can attain while taking an AP course.
“This exhibition of accomplished work by AP Studio Art students features art executed in a variety of media and representing extraordinary clarity of thought, and a great diversity of content, style and technique,” he said.
The Miami Museum of Contemporary Art Exhibition was promoted jointly through the College Board, the Government Office and the Museum of Contemporary Art. This is the third year the exhibition has taken place. Every year the College Board searches for a major metropolitan art museum to showcase outstanding student artwork.
The exhibition is part of a three-city tour. It will travel first to the David J. Brodsky Gallery in Princeton, from Sept. 30 through Oct. 20, then the art galley of the College Board in New York City from Oct. 28 through Nov. 18.
Roger Cushing, the head of the art department at Viewmont High School and Smith’s AP art teacher, said Smith has an assertive personality. She is not afraid to question what the teacher says. She is bright, teachable and willing to learn.
“The piece chosen for the exhibition is fun and honest. It has a very spiritual and wonderful glazing quality,” Cushing said. “It personified shape rather than detail. It is very structural and sound.”
He said Smith has a very bright future and is very ready for the university level. He thinks she is even good enough to be a gallery painter. She excelled in both art painting and graphic design under his tutelage.
-erina@cc.usu.edu
Ashley Smith, a freshman majoring in graphic arts, poses in the Chase Fine Arts Center with one of her paintings from a recent AP art competition. (Photo by Cory Hill)