{"id":2887,"date":"2022-12-16T10:24:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T15:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=2887"},"modified":"2022-12-16T10:24:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T15:24:17","slug":"exploring-river-hills-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/exploring-river-hills-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring River Hill\u2019s Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Claire Fagan, Features Editor, and Riley Gonzales, News Editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As winter approaches, the time for art and writing contests is also upon us. From the end of National Novel Writing Month to the upcoming Scholastic Art and Writing Contest, \u2018tis the season for creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before an artist can create, they must be inspired. Inspiration comes from a number of sources, often unique to the individual. Senior Vianne Stanford states, \u201cThe world itself is my inspiration. I think a lot in colors. A specific color combination, the sky is really inspirational, but also just different sensations and emotions.\u201d Artists within River Hill draw on their surroundings and their own unique identity to spur ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophomore Anh Le explains that their creative process is \u201cgetting inspiration from one thing or another, usually places I\u2019ve been or events I\u2019ve learned about, and coming up with a stable plot from there. Then I develop the world and characters and everything just falls together.\u201d Anh uses spontaneous thoughts to form detailed outlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist Senior Allie Burns plans similarly. She describes, \u201cI\u2019ll get my best ideas right when I\u2019m falling asleep and so I\u2019ll kind of go to bed with the idea\u2026 and kind of just let that brew in my mind. I\u2019ll do a couple thumbnails of that in different perspectives\u2026 and then I\u2019ll go straight to sketching it out and painting it.\u201d Whether an artist plans ahead or not, every person can find a way to discover their creative vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, many students at River Hill expressed frustration over not being able to find the headspace to draw, paint, sing, or write due to impeding school commitments. Junior Elika Tofigh states, \u201cI come out of [school] kind of exhausted most of the time, so I don\u2019t have the creative energy.\u201d School\u2019s many commitments and expectations can be draining, limiting free time and desire to create outside of class. At the same time, Elika also appreciates school for its structure, adding, \u201cI am happy to be taking an art class this year. It\u2019s my first in-person art class and it\u2019s really fun because I can be creative in school in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Everyday classes can sometimes help writers find new ways to describe mundane events. Anh shares this perspective on schoolwork, explaining, \u201cSchool usually puts a damper on my creativity because of all the time it takes up, but the people I interact with [and] the interactions I witness help me write my characters a lot more realistically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

School can also spur higher quality work that is more likely to be well-received. After creating art within and outside of school, some students consider submitting their work to contests. Elika comments, \u201cAs a junior, I\u2019m thinking about college a lot. I don\u2019t know exactly what the prize is, but I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s money, right? Scholarships? Making work in art class, like actual pieces as opposed to just drawing digitally for fun, I feel like I would have something to submit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, submitting art to contests is not always a priority. Vianne states, \u201cI share my art with my friends sometimes, probably about 50% of the time, and honestly that\u2019s all the kind of validation I need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some, creating art is about developing and honing a skill. As Allie explains it, \u201cThe reason that I started art in the first place was I like watching myself improve after every piece.\u201d She continues, \u201cIt\u2019s like taking a peek inside your consciousness. It\u2019s almost like you\u2019re jotting your dreams down, it\u2019s just something so personal.\u201d This was an idea that came up frequently, with Senior Finn Yu agreeing, \u201cThere\u2019s this quote by this artist [Louise Bourgeois] that art is a guarantee of sanity, and you know, that\u2019s what I think about art. It\u2019s to keep yourself together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many have differing opinions on whether or not artwork must be shared. \u201cThe world is depressing. There needs to be more art. Also, art is one of the major factors that helps with social change,\u201d Senior Mia Wolfe believes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art also  is an important way for a person to connect with and positively impact other people. Anh comments, \u201cI want to write things that help people feel seen. I often include characters who have diverse gender identities, sexualities, and\/ or races.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, even if art isn\u2019t shared, it can still benefit its creator. Finn explains, \u201cSometimes art exists for your own eyes, your own feelings, and it doesn\u2019t need to last. It can disappear immediately, that\u2019s fine, it\u2019s just something you do, you know? It\u2019s for you.\u201d Senior Rachel Warfield agrees, commenting,\u201cArt is art regardless of if it’s shared, and it\u2019s valuable regardless of who sees it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vianne has a very unique perspective that no matter who creates the art, who sees the art, or how good the art is, all art should be treasured: \u201cTo me, the act of making art is sharing it with the world. Sharing it in the world and other people seeing it aren\u2019t the same thing. Once the art is out of your head, you\u2019ve shared it with the world, and you don\u2019t need to share it with other people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re an artistic beginner, it\u2019s important to realize that it takes time and practice to improve. As Senior Jennifer Gao states, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about expectations or anything that you need to include in your art. The point of the first draft is that it\u2019s going to be bad, but what\u2019s important is that you get things out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art takes on many different forms and meanings, but it certainly plays a large role in the lives of River Hill students. Hopefully it will continue to do so for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Claire Fagan, Features Editor, and Riley Gonzales, News Editor As winter approaches, the time for art and writing contests is also upon us. From the end of National Novel Writing Month to the upcoming Scholastic Art and Writing Contest, \u2018tis the season for creativity. Before an artist can create, they must be inspired. Inspiration…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/unnamed-3.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2891,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions\/2891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}