Real Vs. Surreal

Real Vs. Surreal

In this issue of Sound Off, we take a look at what students are thinking when they choose to portray a subject realistically, or put their own surreal spin on the subject matter. All of the students in this issue have studied art at Camden Hills Regional High School. Realistic artwork is pretty self-explanatory; it's the artist's attempt to capture a person or scene with exact detail. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; but even if some of these submissions are simply a nod to surrealism, nevertheless, each piece reveals something of the students' personalities.

Real 

Artist: Kierra Bunting 

My dad and I call this the “Graveyard Of Fire Trucks” because there are these really old fire trucks in Hope. You're not really supposed to, but we went exploring around the fire trucks and that one was taken with my toy camera. 

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Artist: Kierra Bunting 

This is at Zoot Coffee in Camden. I just love Zoot, even before I worked there. This is part of the menu and all of the syrups they have for coffees on the shelf. I like doing photos that have a lot of symmetry to them.

Kierra Bunting (photo: Kay Stephens)

Editor Comment: I really enjoyed Kierra's whimsical & edgy photography so much, I wrote about her in The Pen Bay Pilot's "Hail To The Rad Kids" series. Click on that link for her full story. 

Artist: Biz Pree

What I remember of shooting that picture of the berries, is that some berries were focused and other parts blurred against the sky. It was during the winter when there wasn't much to take pictures of. While I was walking around my yard, a bush with bright red berries stood out. So, I thought it would be a cool color to play with while the sky was the background. I took several pictures, and afterwards, I decided to edit the colors and I left some in its original color. 

Artist: Biz Pree

I shot this portrait of a friend. We both wanted to work on our portrait and modeling pictures. It turned out to be a great day for that because we were doing this thing called High Fashion Friday, so we were dressed up and had time to do a shoot during our photography class. 

 

Artist: Tessa Isis-Bahoosh

Here, I was trying to capture someone’s form as an exercise in proportions and anatomy. This was done in charcoal and white chalk. 

Artist: Pierre Augute Renoir, Boat House  

Artists: Bella Fischer, Rosie Lawson, Eliza Boetsch, Jordan Tyler

Adult Comment: This was an assignment I would give four students. I’d give them a postcard from a master painter and cut it up into four pieces. Then I’d assign those four kids to work on each piece, but as a group, so that the pieces came together as an enlarged painting, while making sure that the shapes and colors aligned with the others’ pieces. Then we’d reassemble the painting into a whole
-Art teacher, Russell Kahn

Surreal

Artist: Wayne Harwood

I tinted this photo, then added a bit of green and some highlights, so you can see it’s really gradient and it gets darker. It was at twilight and what I was looking at made me want to show more of the line work with the power lines in contrast with the trees. I turned the silhouette on the tree way down, so that it would stick out against the black skyline. 

Artist: Wayne Harwood

This was taken right outside my apartment. Obviously, there was an oil spill and what I like about this is how you can see a part of our house reflected back and how bold the outline is. I boosted the color so that the oil sticks out much more and looks distorted against the clouds. This makes me think of space when I see this, so you’ve got the clouds and then it eventually goes off into space into this cosmic vortex.

Artist: Claire Horne

This piece was about capturing the essence of something tangible in an abstract way; in this case, I captured a waving flag, an ocean wave, and the perpetual movement they share.

  

Artist:Jalina Brown

This project was for Corregation Nation (see May issue), but I didn’t finish in time. These are robots taking over the world. I started with the idea of robot and decided to put them in a destroyed city, but wanted to make it more fun and light-hearted, so I gave them silly outfits like a tutu, a top hat, a jump rope, and a hula hoop.
 

We're now looking for fall submissions! The next theme is:  To The Edge ( pieces take the concept of art and writing past the expected to the edge).

To submit, email editor@fivetownctc.org, call (207) 236-9800 or mail to: Five Town Communities That Care, P.O. Box 1135, 219 Meadow Street, Rockport, ME 04856. Please include a real name and a phone number so Stephens can get in touch with you for editing purposes.