Gallery • 3 Photos

Rita Magana

Chalk art is a project done by Downey High School students for 12 years now. The art is displayed in front of the J building.

For several days in the last three weeks of April, students from Intermediate/Advanced Art have participated in the creation of their murals. The artwork was displayed outside the J-Building, in front of the halls for passing students to view the large scale illustrations.

Each year the murals depict a different theme and this year, as Madian Villeda, 12, informs they were tasked with creating and them realizing a face using pastels.

¨We had to create, using our own style, the human face,¨ Villeda said. ¨We were encouraged to use a variation of colors in order to test our abilities to blend and form a face with this medium.¨

Sumaiya Hussain, 12, another student in this class explains her experience this year with the assignment, noting that it took three weeks to complete fully.

“I looked forward to it all year. It was an optional project and all the time and extra hours we put into was great because we were able to exert all our effort and essentially experience what artists experience and their process when creating their artwork,¨ Hussain said. ¨So even though the process was long and a bit tasking, it was very rewarding and I was very happy with the end product.”

Also an art student, Maria Ramos, 12, explained the meaning of her art and her purpose in the use of the particular colors she employed.

“I decided to use complimentary colors because I feel it mimicked Andy Warhol and that famous pop art style,” Ramos said. “I felt it really made the portrait stand out and represented the art form we were all attempting to do.”

As always, these portraits by students from Intermediate Art serve to display each students hard work and developing talent. Their art causes most to stop and stare, their creativity never ceasing to impress and fascinate the viewer.