ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: MARY JOHNSON

Mary Johnson is the only student who will be completing her Advanced Placement (AP) Studio Art portfolio this year as a junior, instead of as a senior next year. Her artwork is a personal expression of her unique style as an artist and as a creative thinker.

AP Studio Art graders are particularly interested in seeing an artist’s ability to take risks in their artwork, which can be achieved through a variety of methods. Johnson has chosen to take on this challenge by creating portraiture in ballpoint pen on unconventional drawing surfaces, including the backside of coloring book pages, the covers of sketchbooks and generic printer paper.

Typically, drawings in any media are crafted on a higher quality paper to preserve the artwork and allow for finer detailing. In Johnson’s case however, she prefers to express her creativity in the moment, on any range of drawing surfaces available to her.

“When she feels the inspiration, she has to put it down [on paper]. It’s because she’s an artist, she has that natural ability to turn anything into beautiful art,” Hannah Gustafson, a senior AP artist, said of Johnson’s artwork.

In addition to her unconventional choice of drawing surfaces, Johnson also leaves pieces in a technically ‘unfinished’ state. (Though many artists will often feel that any work they create has a degree of ‘unfinished-ness.’)

“I concentrate so hard that I get bored and I can’t finish,” Johnson said.

Heather Guthrie, the AP Studio Art instructor, also commented on this characteristic of Johnson’s artwork.

“She’s more into the creative process than the finished product,” Guthrie said.

AP graders encourage more than just technical art ability. An artist who will submit a portfolio for grading must also consider the critical thinking aspects of composition, demonstrating risk taking, and the breadth of medias they can work in. Johnson has selected ballpoint pen for her AP Concentration (one portion of the three-part portfolio that includes twelve pieces in, generally, a single media and a single subject matter).

“Mary finds a really good challenge in pen because it’s so permanent, and you have to work very slow and meticulously. When Mary’s concentrated, she can do that,” Gustafson said.

Johnson is working to complete the twelve pieces necessary for the AP Concentration portion of her portfolio, which she will submit with the rest of the senior AP Art students in May.