Hispanic heritage month honors Hispanic influences and contributions. Four Corners Upper School recognizes this with an event known as Hispanic gallery night, where students contribute artwork to be displayed.
Around campus, classes assigned students to create an art piece tying back to Hispanic heritage. Students’ art often related to a Hispanic artist, such as Picasso, Kahlo, or Goya.
“The different shapes are the mixture of cultures that stands for the creation of a whole new, rich culture with amazing traditions. I used elements from paintings of Margaret Neil, Alfredo Hilton, and Patricia de Cisneros. All of them are Hispanic, and I did a reinterpretation of their work,” freshman Helena Tashiro said.
In Ms. Murphy’s Portfolio Development class, students were tasked with creatively designing an art piece relating to Hispanic Heritage, just as Junior Annielith Vega had to do.
“This is supposed to be from Puerto Rican Culture overall, because in Puerto Rico they have colorful houses and that is why I want to make it brighter and more colorful. Also, some people know Puerto Rico acts having nice features, and of course Puerto Rico has a lot of greenery, so I added that,” Vega said.
The process of creating art requires many detail-oriented decisions to help convey the artist’s visions. Every piece must incorporate a meaning beneath the surface of the canvas, such as a personal experience or reference.
“I chose to paint this to show the beautiful and intricate buildings of Venezuela. I painted the buildings with bright and vivid colors, which also happen to be the colors of the Venezuelan flag,” freshman Isabella Briñez said.
Students from various classes created works of art inspired by Hispanic heritage to set up on Hispanic gallery night. At FCUS, students taking the comprehensive art course use their skills to develop meaningful artwork, such as Freshman, Emmely Concepcion.Concepcion shares her artwork’s ties to Hispanic heritage.
“The flowers are an important detail of the artwork; they are called Chrysanthemums and are typically used on the Mexican culture día del Muertos or day of the dead. This day is when they put these flowers on their family’s or loved one’s graves while they dance, eat, play music, and just appreciate their loved ones who have passed away,” Concepcion said.
Prior to the art gallery, many students tirelessly worked on their projects, but then came the time for students to wrap up their art projects for the Hispanic art gallery night on Friday, October 25th.
“I went to the Hispanic art gallery night, and I went with my family to go see my artwork and others, and when I looked around, I saw how much talent they had, and how much effort people put into their artworks. Although not many families were there to see their kids’ work, which was kind of disappointing. At the art show I saw depictions of Frida Kahlo and Pablo Picasso’s work, and I saw a watermelon painting that I really liked with words spelled out in watermelon seeds. I’m glad I got to contribute a piece for the show, it felt good to see people pass by and view my art,” seventh grader Maxwell Nichter said.
“With my artwork, I hope that whether someone comes from Hispanic descent or not, they will enjoy the beauty and comfort that lies within Latin culture,” Freshman Angelina Abreu said.
