Student artists: Infinite imagination

COEUR d’ALENE — Characters come to life, imagined locales become destinations of the heart and the ordinary becomes extraordinary when Cynthia Chapman's honors art students put their talents to work.

"They inspire me," Chapman said Tuesday. "Truly, I do learn more from them than they learn from me."

Chapman, an art instructor at Lake City High School, said what she's challenging her students with at this time is "complexity through layering — put one material down, and we'll put another material over it, and another over it, so it builds up these amazing layers, rather than something super simple that is a one-shot thing."

"It forces them to think, 'How is this color going to react once it's on top of that one?' and, 'How will this newspaper look over this acrylic?' 'How will this stamp look over that?'" Chapman said. "We're doing so much mixed media because it provides this amazing opportunity for layers."

Senior Oli Ekhoff has been one of Chapman's students since freshman year. For an independent project, she used multiple types of paint to create a sweeping mountainscape under a soothing pink sky.

"I started this piece thinking about clouds and looking at the way the sun hits the top of the clouds. I used spray paint to make it very soft," she said. "It feels very natural land, is what I was going for. Calmness and blend the sun with the clouds. I like how light plays off of things."

She shared a thought about the role art plays in life.

"Art can give us a sense of gratitude for the environments and experiences we can have as people and connects us emotionally and socially," Oli said.

Athlete, sports fan and senior Brooklyn Rewers let her imagination drift into outer space when she created a unique acrylic depiction of a familiar image: Basketball hero Michael Jordan and his legendary slam dunk.

"It was toward the end of basketball season so I was really sad," she said. "Michael Jordan, he's my favorite. I like the photo of him dunking, so I wanted to do a rendition of that. I'm like, 'OK, I'll just take him and put him in space, like, he's out of this world.'"

Brooklyn has been an art student since middle school. She said art "is a way to get your thoughts out and express yourself in a different way."

"I express myself more through sports," she said. "You don't really see people who do sports and art that much."

For one of her recent independent projects, senior Heidi Pham saw an everyday scene and found a way to give it life through her work with old school film photography.

"I had taken a photo of my garage that I thought had a really good composition, and I was really interested in it, so I decided to paint it," she said. "It was just kind of a feeling."

Heidi has been interested in art since elementary school and enjoys the abstract.

"I like going slow and feeling out the details," she said. "It's very methodical."

When asked about the purpose art serves, Heidi responded that "art spreads out into all other types of daily life."

"It brings a lot of joy," she said. "It just makes me feel that way."

This is an ongoing series that highlights the talents of local student artists. Have a student or a class to feature? Email dweeks@cdapress.com with suggestions.