Sarah Van Zee

Artist Statement

Wrong Sea by Isabelle Leeds.
When I was younger, some of my favorite movies were animal documentaries, especially Planet Earth. Planet Earth II introduced me to a concept known as light pollution. The light coming from cities would lead sea turtles away from the oceans and into roads and drainage pipes. I was practically traumatized watching these baby sea turtles die. When trying to talk about this to others, I learned that not many people knew about light pollution, so I created this piece to spread awareness.

The piece was created by using both colored pencils and ink pens, which are two of my favorite mediums. While creating this piece, I had problems figuring out the lighting. Which areas should be made from pen? What color pencils look natural while still being bright in color? I also tried to include several symbols in the drawing. The car symbolizes the turtle’s eventual death. The light represents the turtle’s focus. The plants represent life and are supposed to be pointing back towards the sea, showing that the turtle could survive if it turned away from the city.

Electric Guitar by Isabella Bolte
For this sculpture, I wanted to do something with music. I started out with my music journey by doing color guard for marching band. By doing this and seeing all kinds of shows, I found an appreciation for music and a fondness for playing instruments. After the marching season ended, I gave percussion a try and joined the concert band. It was hard at first, but I still pushed through it, and it became something I enjoyed a lot. I met a lot of new people who helped me with each new thing, and learned to play many instruments. The hardest one I found to learn was guitar. String instruments were a lot different than the marimbas and drums I had originally learned to play on. It definitely took time, dedication, and a lot of lessons, but it turned out to be my favorite thing that I can play. It’s also versatile enough that I can carry it over to things outside of school and possibly a future career. I based this guitar off the electric one I have at home and was taught on, as it means the most to me. Since then, I’ve moved on to many types of string instruments, but this one will always hold the most value to me.

When starting this project, I was a little weary as I’ve never used anything like wire before, nor did I have really any sculpture experience. Because of this, I learned about many different types of wire and ways to bend and connect them beforehand to make myself more comfortable. This little bit of trial and error made me a lot more confident and made this project a lot more enjoyable. For the shape and size, I went off of memory with a picture for comparison. I tried to go home and look at mine for a while to try to keep the size in my head for the next day. Keeping the neck up also took a bit of work and a lot of connecting. The hardest part of this project was working with the small wire to make the strings. It was difficult to attach them straight without them breaking because the smaller wire was so brittle. Overall, even with the harder parts of this project, I really enjoyed it, and this project will be one I cherish.