Spotlight on Artist Emma Davies

Welcome to The Elective’s digital art museum, dedicated to the incredible work of AP Arts students. Each week we highlight a work or series created in one of the AP Arts concentrations—AP 2-D Art and Design, 3-D Art and Design, and AP Drawing (the AP Program also offers Art History and Music Theory)—as well as a statement from the artist (and, occasionally, their teacher).

From the first cave paintings to contemporary breakthroughs in virtually reality, art, in all its forms, has been a crucial way for people to process, make sense of, comment on, and grapple with the world around them. In 2020, there is a lot to process and grapple with—and AP Art students have risen to the challenge. The work many of them submitted in their final portfolios is explicitly of the moment, from commentary on the covid-19 pandemic to the celebration of people of color to the nature of heroism in perilous times.

The work is often challenging and provocative but always insightful, inspiring, and expansive.

This week we feature a photograph made by Emma Davies from Manchester High School in Midlothian, Virginia.

Here’s Emma’s statement on the work:

“My investigation explored the idea of: What is a home? Is home tangible or merely a feeling? What forms does a home come in?

“For this work, I started with an image of a beach house that I love. The house itself is one of my favorites when I go to the beach. The color of it always sticks out in my mind. My love for the house led me to focus on the idea that home is a tangible house. This idea of home is safe and happy; the bright colors represent happiness. To fill the space, I added more to the image with the pink shape above the house and the cut-out roof at the top right. In my mind, these unexpected shapes add a whimsical nature to the work.

Using different materials and techniques for other pieces, like  cardboard, yarn, torn images, and layering allowed me to further the explore the different definitions of home. Is a home perfect, or is it broken and pieced together? The idea of a broken home guided me to abandon the idea of a tangible house and explore the idea of shelter through value and shape.”

And here are a few more images from Emma’s portfolio:

Student statements are lightly edited for length and clarity.