By Eva Whaley & Gabbie Spurlock

For many, art can be an escape from responsibilities—a way to relax from the stress of school. Art can make people feel “alive,” as Sky Song (’19) mentioned. In Upper School art teacher Pam Sutherland’s Drawing 1 class, Song and his classmates work on their latest assignment. Sutherland gave each student a flower to draw and an emotion to convey without “personifying”—representing the emotion with a human.

Clay Ryan (’20) is drawing a furious bird of paradise. He uses angry colors, like red and black, and drew the characters for “furious” and “I’m angry right now” in Chinese. Now, he told me, he is working on bringing attention back to his flower.

Natasha Makarov’s (’19) word is “unique,” but she forgot the name for the flower she’s drawing.

Eli Schwartz (’20) draws an obsessive tulip. He plans on having a series of tulips which deteriorate over time, from left to right.

Kimberly Jeans (’17) is drawing a depressed stock flower. Her final piece will include lots of black behind the flower.

Ellis Henderson (’19) incorporates “arrogance” into his drawing of a calla lily by making the flower out of copied one hundred dollar bills.

Anne Mason (’19) draws a curious gerber daisy. She only has a sketch of her drawing so far.

Justin (’17) draws an elated rose. He uses different colors, and the ink on the top of the drawing shows “upper excitement” and the stem on the bottom is dripping, giving the drawing “another dimension.”

Sky Song (’19) doesn’t have a flower—he’s “winging it.” His word is “disgusting,” and he has some deep, confusing symbolism going on.

Reese Bowling (’17) draws an anxious carnation. He chose black to color the border and he uses small, sharp strokes of black, green, and red throughout the painting to exemplify anxiety.

Photos by Eva Whaley & Gabbie Spurlock.