Nina's High School Sketchbook, Vol 7

This week we've zipped up to 2005's selection from my archives - this was my last year in high school, and thus was a transition year. It was also a really complicated year. To steal from Dickens: "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

Bombarded

Paint Pen, Ink
This was when I was starting to get really political, and was basically desperate to get out of the United States to see what the rest of the world was like. Growing tired of the rampant commercialism, superficial opinions, and seeing/hearing vehement hatred towards Americans from people on the internet and on TV, I decided that I'd go with an explicit anti-globalization theme in AP Art class. Looking at them now, I think most of them were a little too on the nose, but I picked a couple to share with you here which I still like and that always seemed to foster some sort of productive discussion when displayed in shows. This one is pretty simple, a mandala of the Corporate Overlords of America as of 2005.

Ruins

Ink, Coloured Pencil
Here's another from that same Globalization series, which was intended to be displayed in the style of a subtle one panel comic in the newspaper. Ancient cultures feel the effects too!

They're Gllllllllobal!

Paint Pen, Ink
This one got a really good response from classmates for some reason, despite the fact that clearly most of the language translations are utter gibberish. But the point still stands, you can get Frosted Flakes just about everywhere on earth. It's currently framed and hanging on my dining room wall just at the entrance to my apartment, to greet and warn people that you're entering a household with a lot of big opinions ;)

**Insert: Wayne's World Doodly sounds**
To skip ahead a little bit for a brief moment, after I graduated high school, I did move to Canada and spent 10 years there with a few months abroad in Germany, where I explored Turkey, Egypt, and everywhere nearby to Stuttgart. Did my political views change? Well, sorta. I went into Canada totally ready to be a devout socialist wanting to bring down the corporate machine, and when I got back to Canada after my 6 months abroad I realized that I'm actually just a plain old run of the mill voluntary anarchist wanting to bring down the corporate machine. Ultimate goal is still the same, but I've changed my thoughts on how we can get there. It's fascinating going through my artwork today as an adult and reflecting upon my evolution of opinion.

Ok, back to 2005, before the end of high school:
**Insert: Wayne's World Doodly sounds**

Sanctuary

Tissue paper, construction paper
In French class, we were given the task to create stained glass windows which illustrated famous French literature, so how could I pass up the chance to do the Hunchback of Notre Dame? This was a super fun one, but unfortunately this was the only photo I managed to grab of it before the building was suddenly shut down and stripped/renovated for asbestos... that was a sad day, we lost all the art and posters in that classroom!

Again, there were a lot of extreme ups and downs that year for me - and it all filtered down into my art and music. Next week I'll talk about some of the specifics and share some of the artwork that was borne from it.

As usual, I sincerely hope you enjoy my posts and my artwork! Lots of new stuff coming soon... I just finished what I consider to be probably one of the most complicated drawings I've ever attempted for an album cover, so hopefully I can share that with you soon, too. Thanks always for your support!