Where History Comes Alive
127-15 Kew Gardens Road
Kew Gardens, New York,11415
Friends Organization
Est. Nov. 30, 2005
(347) 878-6613
In collaboration with
Presents
Sustained Investigation -
Art Exhibition
"The Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery is honored to sponsor its first online Art Exhibition in collaboration with the AP Art Class at The Kew-Forest School under the direction of teacher Narges Anvar. It is our desire to encourage, complement, reinforce values, culture, and learning opportunities. Let us show support for our students and teachers."
Carl Ballenas - President of the Friends of Maple Grove
"The Advanced Placement Art and Design course presents an inquiry-based approach to learning and making art & design. Students are expected to conduct an in-depth, sustained investigation of materials, processes, and ideas.
Students develop and apply skills of inquiry through investigation, practice, experimentation, revision, and reflection. The final portfolio consists of 15-20 pieces of artwork submitted to the College Board. Here you will see only 4-5 selections from each portfolio! "
Narges Anvar - Kew-Forest School Art Teacher
My name is Anthony. I’m currently a senior at The Kew-Forest School and will soon be starting my freshman year as Wesleyan University this fall.
How has Covid-19 and quarantine affected our perspective of the world, and how has that impacted me personally? I explore this by limiting most of my art to two perspectives 1) looking from the inside of my home at the outside and 2) looking from the outside at the inside. This reflects how we have been restricted to the confines of our homes due to the pandemic. As I continued my inquiry I found myself also including the negative and positive impacts that the pandemic has had on me. The positive turn is the portrayal of our music room, a place that I found myself frequenting during lockdown, as I renewed my passion for piano. I then started abstracting my pieces, showing that although I’m physically confined to my home, due to Covid-19, my mind is not, and my imagination can set me free. In my last piece, I painted on plexiglass to depict my own reflection in the window, to symbolically and literally show self reflection after my profound experiences.
Anthony
Armen
My name is Armen I was born in Yerevan, Armenia. I grew up in a traditional Armenian household. I am a big sports guy, any sport (except Baseball and Golf) I would love to chat about, especially martial arts. I spent eight years in a boxing academy and participated in a few competitions. Weird enough, I am also a musician; I went to a musical school and graduated while specializing in piano and dhol. When I graduated from middle school, my family moved to the US; that was my most significant change. The culture, the people, everything, was different but so far it has been great! I graduated from High School at Kew-Forest recently, and now I am looking forward to college and adult life.
During COVID, how can we fill the void of being separated from family and our homeland, by tapping into our memories? During quarantine, my flight back to Armenia was canceled. I was very homesick at the time. After not being able to travel back, my only way to connect with my homeland was through my childhood memories. I had traveled most of Armenia, especially the capital city Yerevan. In my portfolio I present my memories of the city and the beautiful mountainous regions, which fills me with nostalgia & warmth
My name is Ava and I am a rising senior at The Kew Forest School. Throughout the AP Studio Art Course, I realized that I really like working with oil pastels, as seen in my pieces.
By showing different perspectives, how can I show details one might miss by making quick judgements? Originally, I wanted to depict the physical struggles of women. Being surrounded by strong women like my mom and aunts, I could relate. Eventually, while working on one of my later pieces, my inquiry took an even deeper dive: to show different details one might miss when judging others too quickly, using different points of view/perspectives.
Ava
Ben
My name is Ben. I am 17 years old and a junior at the Kew-Forest school. My favorite artist is Jean-Michel Basquiat. I love to go to art museums and I especially love modern art.
How is Queens, New York a unique place in the world, and how is my Grandpa emblematic of the Queens experience? Queens is the most diverse place in the world with more languages spoken here than any other place. Queens is filled with working class individuals who are new to America and to support their family, they must persevere. Despite surrounding gentrification, Queens has remained unglamorous in the eyes of many. Yet I see Queens as a vibrant and culturally diverse borough. My work brings to light the beautiful diversity of Queens where different people from all parts of the world can live in harmony. I also focus on the story of my grandfather, who is emblematic of the Queen’s experience. Upon immigrating from Russia, Queens was a logical destination for refugee families like my grandfather's. With the help of the Jewish community, my grandfather was able to find housing. I have depicted his journey, struggles, perseverance, and eventual success, and ultimately in piece 15 I show his complete integration and sense of belonging.
My name is Emily and I’m currently a junior at The Kew Forest School. I’ve lived in New York all my life but my family and I are from Guatemala. One of the things that has always stood out to me whenever I visited Guatemala was the street art. When I first joined KF in ninth grade, I was placed in Studio Art and continued being a part of the class in tenth grade, which was when I started to realize the potential I could reach in terms of my art. By the time I joined AP Art this year, I had developed a love for drawing and painting in my free time.
How do we feel about our body as teenagers and how do eating disorders affect us? Body image encompasses one’s thoughts and feelings. Some remain body positive while others have a distorted view of their body, feeling ashamed & self conscious. This often leads to forms of isolation, depression, low self esteem and the development of eating disorders. The constant feelings of shame and anxiety over our body image contributes to its development. A harmful body image leads to issues like body dysmorphia and eating disorders. Initially, I planned to depict multiple problems teenagers suffer from, such as drug addiction and poor body image, leading to depression. Eventually, I narrowed down my focus to eating disorders with a general overview, then in depth with binge eating and anorexia. Then, I focused on factors impacting our relationship with food and self esteem including the unrealistic beauty standards that promote “perfect” bodies and are perpetuated by the media. As a result, I continued to convey the haunting effects of poor self esteem.
Emily
Hongkai
My name is Hongkai, I am 16. I am an international student from China, currently studying in New York, The Kewforest School. My favourite color is RED.
How do people live under economic hardship? What’s the cause of their misfortune and suffering? My pieces mainly focus on two eras, the Great Depression in the 1930s and the recession in the 1980s. Through a variety of materials and many forms of art like propaganda posters, political cartoons, drawings, etc, to demonstrate the economic hardship and human struggle. Additionally, I point out that global capitalism is the original sin.
My name is Wenxi, a junior from the Kew forest School. I’m interested in contemporary art and pop art.
How are we influenced by social media and how does it affect how we think of ourselves? What are the struggles we face to overcome the pressures of social media? My works are focused on how people are influenced and manipulated by others’ opinions and thus change their outer appearances and behaviors.
Wenxi
Congratulations ap art students!!!!
Special thanks to Mrs.Anvar
Arden
My name is Arden and I am a senior at the Kew-Forest school. I am very interested in Mixed Media art as well as the large installation format. In college I am planning to minor in Studio Art!
What injustices do women face everyday with respect to their image and how can we raise awareness to end them? My installations focus on sexual harassment. I have shed light on this issue by conducting interviews. Almost all cases made statements like “you are not alone, this happens to everyone, everyday.” This toxic normalization is unhealthy as my art exposes these struggles. The documented experiences of 16-18 year old women guided my investigation into different forms of harassment: catcalling and objectification. I used techniques such as reflection; viewers can see themselves in the situation and shadows/silhouettes to show how sexual harassment lives in the shadows. The large installation format shows that although underrepresented, this is a big issue.
