Wellesley High School's Art & Community Club is a student-run club that focuses on creating and exhibiting artworks around specific themes that bring awareness to essential elements of a healthy community. This year’s exhibit, “Diversity”, is centered on diversity in our community and in the outer world. Students dealt with various issues of ethnicity, race, religion, culture, language, unity, community, and more.
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Discover Your
Unique Color
Eunice Lee
This piece is made out of a cardboard
box for the window and coffee filter for the flowers. I was inspired by the
natural color that came out in the coffee filter when I brewed coffee. Some of
the flowers are dyed with real fruit juices, but most of them are dyed with
acrylic paints. The open window symbolizes being open-minded to and accepting
diversity. It represents discovering hidden ability of an individual. Through the mirror, the viewer
can see his or herself surrounded by flowers that show different colors,
talents, or abilities of the viewer. The various colors of the flowers demonstrate
different perspectives of people. Its overall message is that there are numerous
aspects of humans and we can discover them by exploring new things and
communicating with others.
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One Hundred Rivers Form an Ocean
Maggie Zhang
I was
inspired by “Afghan
Girl,” a photograph of Sharbat Gula taken by Steve McCurry in December 1984 for
the cover of National Geographic and “The Dreamer,” an acrylic-on-canvas painting by Kevin
Chasing Wolf Hutchins. The Chinese have an idiom, Hai Na Bai Chuan - All rivers
run into the ocean. The greatness of the ocean arises from the currents that
feed it; be it the vast Amazon of South America or the trickling streams that meander through
the walks of Wellesley, both eventually empty into the ocean. In turn, the ocean
accepts their gift in its womb. The beauty of Mother Nature is the life that
she sustains; like the bold and majestic American eagle and the elegant yet valorous
Japanese koi fish, life braves blue skies and graces translucent waters. Together they lend
biodiversity to our ecosystems. The strength of mankind emerges from a spectrum
of people; we differ in color, creed, or culture. With acceptance and compassion, our
differences become a mosaic of beauty and greatness. Together, we find perseverance in adversity
and strength of purpose; together, we are strong.
Hai Na Bai Chuan - Be tolerant to
diversity.
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Legacy
Serena
Benages
On
one page, there are newspaper articles. These represent generalizations Americans can make when
all they know about another culture is what they read or see on the news. The
cut-out question mark shows the next page, which has personal stories my father
has from his childhood in Cuba. This piece shows my personal
diversity, but also my belief that cultural diversity and experiencing other
peoples or beliefs is so much more important than simply reading the
news.
Different yet the
Same
Serena Benages
The
piece is centered on a phonebook, which is a testament to the
amount of diversity that thrives today. This diversity is apparent not only in
our names but also in our food. America today is a melting pot of so many
different cultures. The inspiration from this piece came from the
quotation "How alike we are, and yet how different". The hand that
rises from the book symbolizes this shared humanity.
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Disturbance
Pooja Reddy
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A Mélange
Pooja Reddy
This piece shows the face of Gautama Buddha
at rest. Even with his demise, Buddha influenced so many people and his
influence spread around the world from India to places such as Korea, Japan,
Tibet, and throughout the world with immigrants. This spread created an
interesting mix of people with different cultures and backgrounds who were
brought together by the central teaching of Lord Buddha. A mélange of
individuals as the canvas to absorb the trails of knowledge left by Buddha.
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Thing Unseen
Chloe Kolbet
To
recognize diversity is to acknowledge differences and similarities
simultaneously. Yes, it is to notice how someone is black, while another is
white, how someone is poor and another is rich, how someone is female and
another is male. Yet, it is also to recognize that despite the differences, we
are all human—99.9 percent of our DNA is the same. In this way, we can assign
true human dignity to all, rather than only establishing separation. For this
reason, I used only sharpie and poster board as my media in order to represent
our diverse unity.
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International Diversity
Rey Duran
This artwork is done in pastel pencils on white paper and the black background is done with acrylic paint. It depicts many continents on Earth and several gray hands pouring colors into the world. The lands are surrounded by four interlocked arms of different skin tones. For this piece, I wanted to have more of a human feel by using the arms and hands. The different colors seeping into the world map represent various people and their culture, connected by humanity as a whole. The quotation demonstrates the importance of diversity in the world. |
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Diversity
in Wellesley High School
Juyon
Lee, Wendy Zhuo, Monica Ong, Amanda Ong, Eva Loh, Jin Kim, Han Li, Chloe
Kolbet, and Maggie Zhang
This
group project demonstrates diversity within Wellesley High School. The photos
show students, faculty, and other members of the Wellesley community. Instead
of focusing on a specific group, we took photos of various people with
different talents and character. The myriad of colors and shades portrays the
uniqueness of each individual or place in our high school. By demonstrating
different aspects of our community, we want to raise awareness of embracing
diversity and respecting differences. Moreover, the eagle symbolizes freedom
and every individual’s ability to express his or herself.
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Tree of
Life
Katie Pedersen
This piece of artwork was inspired by the
tremendous diversity in the nature. By depicting a tree made out of types of
branches from all over the world, I hope to show the interconnectedness of all
life. Moreover, by using both glossy photos and dull prints, I use a variety of
mediums to create one coherent whole. Just as nature is diverse, so are the
people that live among and depend upon it. Thus, a tree from around the world
serves as a symbol of diversity.
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The Life of a Water
Lily
Eunice Lee
This piece shows
life of a water lily from its birth to death. I thought its life was similar to
human's life. I was inspired by paper-cutting artist Peter Callensen, who cut
out flowers and made them into 3D figures. Similar to Callensen’s technique, I
made some 3D water lilies with cut out materials but used a different type of
paper. Water lily symbolizes resurrection because lilies close their petals
at night and reopen in the morning sunlight. Buddhists regard the water lily as
a symbol of enlightenment because of the beautiful bloom that emerges from the
mud. They also consider the water lily an emblem of purity, spontaneous
generation and divine birth. This piece demonstrates diversity of
religions as a whole.
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Love after
Love
Nic Shepard
To capture diversity artistically, one
immediately must think about all the different ways that we separate ourselves
from each other. This minimalist expression of Derek Walcott's "Love after
Love" is an exercise in negative space. This piece shows both unity and
diversity to the viewer. While each person is shaped by his or her own
experience and has thoughts unique to his or herself when we read the poem, we
all share the human experience. At the end of the day, we all must sit, and
face ourselves together.
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Reeds
Amanda Ong
This black
and white photo shows a picture of reeds in a small marsh that I took at Wellesley
College. Though I was planning to take all of my photos at the pond, while I was
walking on the pathway towards the pond, I was inspired by the light yellow
color of the reeds that contrasted the dark marshy pond. Although they look
very similar, variations in lighting represent that diverse personalities of a
community, which is symbolized by the marsh, can hold and support. The darker
reeds symbolize the quite personality that is hidden in the shadows while the
lighter reeds show the loud personality and visually attract the viewer.
Despite the differences, these reeds, like people, are unified through the
feeling of community that comes from being part of whole.
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Unity
Zahra Pirani
"Unity" exhibits the techniques of
collage and painting, combined on one canvas to display the beauty of
differences. The cutout faces of numerous people from around the
world are used to make collage silhouettes which, in
turn, create a cohesive star in the center of the piece. This
star, as well as the bright yellow border around the
silhouettes, symbolizes the glowing strength and
vitality emanating from diversity. The quote by the Aga Khan,
Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network and an advocate for
pluralism, exemplifies the central message of this piece. "Unity" was
inspired by various photographic displays I have seen of cultures around
the world and my desire to combine different mediums into one artistic
creation.
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Art and Community Club members support Children Helping Children, a student charity organization. Our mission is to help children in third world countries or children devastated by natural disasters. Just like us, they want happiness, strength, and compassion in their lives, but struggle over simple necessities. In doing to, we also strive to foster "one love." We’re reaching out to people of all races, regardless of creed or color, because we’re connected through this common thread of compassion, of hope, and a longing for a bright future. As high school students, some of our members have gained first-hand experience by working with underprivileged children from other countries.
If you
are interested in purchasing original or printed copies (photo images) of the
displayed artworks, please contact J.Y. Lee, President. Art & Community
Club via email juyon95@gmail.com or
cell 781-733- 3515.
All the
charitable donations will be sent to the Children
Helping Children organization, which will help many lives of children in
the third world countries.
Thank
you for your support!
