Senior Tara Sawrikar has taken art all four years she has been at Wayland High School. She now takes AP Art. AP Art students create a themed portfolio and, while this project is just beginning, Sawrikar says she plans to have her work surround humans’ impact on nature and how nature has evolved with human influence.

How long have you been interested in creating art?

“I’ve probably been drawing for as long as I can remember. My mom was always really into art. She didn’t draw herself, but she thought it was very good for the soul. So she signed my sister and I up for drawing and art classes from a young age and that just fostered our creativity, and we would draw a lot after that.”

What is the process of making your artwork?

“I generally have a vision or an objective. In school, I’ll kind of think of the prompt Ms. Latimer has. A lot of the art I do outside of school are gifts for other people. So I think of what they like and how I could portray that, and I’ll just try and execute it.”

How long does each piece of art usually take you to finish?

“I feel like it varies a lot, but I’m one of those people that I love to just sit and do it in one full sitting so sometimes I can take like, five or six hours, but I just do it in like one straight shot, if I can.”

What was your favorite piece of art you’ve ever made? What are you most proud of?

“I really like a piece I made for my grandparents last year that was outside of school for their marriage anniversary. I drew a portrait of them, and then when I went to India to see them, I gave it to them, and they really enjoyed it. In school, I really like the one I most recently made. It’s a bug reaching for nature.”

What are your favorite materials to work with?

“I love watercolor and oil pastel. I’ve also, more recently, like in school, been introduced to collage, and I love doing collage, like cutting out of magazines and things like that.”

Why do you like art?

“I really like that it’s a break from my day. Like, it’s never something that I dread or put off doing. In school, I look forward to our class. And at home, after I finish all my work, I can start working on a piece. It’s a good way to reset.”

What is special about AP Art?

“I think what is special about AP Art is that there’s not really set prompts you should be doing. It’s really like, you do you. [You get to] curate a portfolio that’s to your interest in a way that’s very different from our classes that we’ve taken in the past where the teacher says “oh, everyone has to, like, make a landscape,” and that’s generally what happens. So there’s a lot more creativity you can do, but it’s also more demanding in the way that you have to produce a higher volume of great pieces.”

Has your art style changed over the years?

“It definitely has gotten more explorative. Before high school, I would do a lot of just pencil drawings and still life type pieces. But throughout high school, I’ve been experimenting with more materials and gotten more comfortable with more abstract kinds of portrayals of things.”

Where do you find inspiration for your artwork?

“Probably in nature. I also really like looking at Pinterest and emulating the differential shapes and values. I sometimes see a color palette I really like and try to incorporate it into a piece.”