Spotlight on Artist Lucia Li

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 digital work made using Procreate and an iPad Pro by Lucia Li from Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, CA.

Here’s Lucia’s statement on the work:

“My artwork investigates our relationships with our environment—our physical, mental, and social surroundings—and how they in turn impact us. In my process, I’ve encouraged an organic progression of ideas to approach the idea from many angles, gravitating towards environmental conservation (specifically how the crisis has wider impact than one might anticipate), emotional turmoil (rooted in identity and reactions to external factors), and other societal issues. I tend to focus on people, and my investigations often carry motifs and symbols which I plan out strategically beforehand: a dove to symbolize global peace negotiations (Peace of Plastic), purple hyacinths for grief (Human Nature). This work is an investigation of urbanization and desertification, left in mankind’s carbon footprint.

Throughout my investigation, I sought to hone my technical skills alongside my ever-burgeoning ideas. Specifically, I incorporate complex compositions, expressive color palettes, and varying depths of detail and symbolism into my pieces.”

Here are a few more pieces from Lucia’s portfolio:

Student statements are lightly edited for clarity.