AP Art of the Week
Spotlight on Artist Enola Alvord
Welcome to The Elective’s digital art museum, dedicated to the incredible work of AP Arts students. This week we feature a painting made by Enola Alvord from Layton High School in Layton, Utah.
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. After more than a year of life in a pandemic, AP Art students have risen to the challenge of processing and making sense of the challenges—and opportunities—that have come from this perilous time. The work they submitted in their final portfolios is explicitly of the moment. It’s often challenging and provocative, but always insightful, inspiring, and expansive.
This week we feature a painting made by Enola Alvord from Layton High School in Layton, Utah.
Here’s Enola’s statement on the work:
“Throughout my portfolio, I explored the different attributes of water that make it so unique and beautiful. In this particular acrylic painting, titled New York City Rain, I focused on water’s ability to reflect light. I painted the rain on the road reflecting the traffic lights and car lights, as well as the shadows from the buildings, cars, and people walking. I discovered that although water itself is lifeless, its existence brings more life, light, beauty, and color to its surroundings.
“A lot of planning went into this painting, and it took several hours to finish it. I paid close attention to details, and this required fine motor skills. I put effort into making the rain look real. Acrylic paint was an effective medium to use for painting a rainy day in the city.
“Many of my paintings, including this one, are inspired by family trips. We visited New York City several years ago, and my memories of it encouraged me to create this piece. Experiences with rainstorms on several of our other vacations also served as an inspiration. Making my painting more personal by connecting it with memories has helped other people relate to it as well.”
And here are a few other works from Enola’s portfolio:
I painted this stream to try to create the same calm feeling one gets when looking at water.
I wanted to create a sense of movement from the waves crashing against the rocks and the beach.
Using real water to help simulate water.
To show the magnitude of water. It makes up a huge part of the world and makes it beautiful.
Student statements are lightly edited for length and clarity.
