Feature

“Priorities” ALTERED DIGITAL PRINT by DALIA QuINTANA SENIoR, HuG HIGH ScHooL

Kids these days …

When people preface something with “Kids these days,” there’s a good chance they’re about to make some kind of blanket statement—probably disparaging—about the behavior or upbringing or fashion sense, or what have you of today’s young people. Kids these days ________. (You fill in the blank).

Well, I’ve been working with local teachers and their students in an effort to put together RN&R’s annual teen issue. And I’ve got a few “Kids these days” statements of my own to make. Kids these days are fun to talk with. Kids these days write surprisingly prompt and courteous email responses. Oh, and, kids these days are wicked talented artists.

Go ahead and take a look through the pages of our teen issue to see for yourself. Our cover is by Dalia Quintana, a Hug High senior. She’s created a distinctly modern if somewhat cynical revision of impressionist painter Berthe Morisot’s 1872 oil painting “The Cradle.”

We’ve got photos, paintings and drawings from students at Hug, McQueen, Reed, and Wooster. McQueen high school journalists, Hojin Stella Jung and Alice Samberg, wrote interesting profiles on two of the featured artists.

I hope you enjoy these artworks as much as I have. Maybe you’ll even have a favorite. I couldn’t choose just one. Each time a new photo, drawing or painting came in, I gushed about it to Dennis Myers and Brad Bynum. It was like watching fireworks: “Oh, look at that one! Wow, look at that one!” In fact, I received so many submissions that many didn’t make it into print. You can see other awesome artworks and written pieces by local students on my RN&R blog space: Special Sauce, which you’ll find on the RN&R website. Teen issue was a real blast.

Warmest regards, Jeri Chadwell-Singley RN&R special projects editor

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“Lust” acrylic by anahi lopez senior, hug high school

“Nagpapabaya” by perris burnley sophomore, mcQueen high school

Tempestuous without movement, a boat sits hollow with no sea for support. “Nagpapabaya” stays in the monochrome, captured and edited by McQueen sophomore Perris Burnley.

“That photo was taken in Hawaii, actually,” Burnley said. “My family and I were just driving through a small town when I saw this boat on the side of the road. I made my dad pull over, which was very difficult given the position of the boat relative to the road, but I really loved the boat. I had to walk through extremely tall grass, but I just took a few photos real quick and then ran back to the car.”

Burnley has been taking photos since she was little, yet decided to turn it into a serious hobby just last year as a freshman in Photography 1-2 with teacher Skye Snyder.

“I’m interested in photography specifically because it’s not like art where you create your own beauty, but it’s simply capturing beauty that already exists and maybe manipulating it to make it even more beautiful,” Burnley said.

While she has two more years to hone her craft in high school, Burnley already sees improvements in taking photos with “different angles, lighting and techniques.” Her inspirations, however, are less measured and more spontaneous.

“I honestly have no idea where I get my inspiration,” Burnley said. “It will sometimes just come to me at random times, and sometimes I won’t have any inspiration at all for a long period of time, but it always manages to come back.”

Burnley explained that she doesn’t have a preference when it comes to subject matter. “Sometimes I will just see something that I think is photo-worthy, so I’ll snap a picture,” she said.

But like all artists, Burnley hopes to communicate to others what she sees, whether it be how a rusted truck domineers or how an old boat recedes with time.

“I believe that there is so much beauty and creativity in the world, and I’d just like to capture some of it so that everyone can see and experience the world the way I do,” she said.

An open mind and open eyes bring fresh inspiration to a young photographer

by hojin stella jung

High school artist inspired by the father she just met

by Alice SAmberg

Inspired by Native American headdress skulls, “Cultural Headpieces on Skulls” is an incorporation of culture that is relatively new to artist and McQueen senior Ainsley Murdock.

Murdock has had an interest in drawing since a young age but started to take it up as a more serious hobby around eighth grade. Now, Murdock is both a sketch artist and a photographer; while these are different mediums, she hopes to express a similar idea through both.

“Through my work, I hope to communicate to others that you should always be yourself.” Murdock said. “It’s cool to express this through my photography.”

The inspiration for her art has always come from her thoughts and hobbies; however, her experience with various art and photography teachers at school has introduced her to new styles and ways to express ideas.

And while many aspiring artists look up to the big names in the art world, Murdock admires the work of someone she knows a little more personally—her father.

“An artist that I look up to is my biological dad who I recently met last month,” she said. “He is an awesome tattoo artist, so I think my skills come from him, but they’re definitely not as mature as his.”

Murdock loves drawing and photography equally, saying that she switches back and forth between the two, but she takes a special interest in using people as the subjects of her work.

“My favorite things to draw and photograph are definitely people,” Murdock said. “I love to capture the truth behind a person. No matter what, you cannot hide the truth in a photo if you look in the person’s eyes.”

“Jewels and Flowers and Fish” digitAl print by Hojin StellA jung Senior, mcQueen HigH ScHool