Many students throughout their high school careers will take a physical art class. Be it photography, sculpture or ceramics, some students end up in these classes to get their fine arts credits out of the way. However for AP Studio Art students, art classes are a whole other ballgame.

“It’s really nice because a lot of art classes will be kind of eclectic, there will be a lot of people that don’t actually care about being there,” senior Kelsey Reith said.  “To be in a small classroom full of people that all legitimately care about this stuff, you get to learn a lot more.”

AP art students are required to submit a 24-piece portfolio to be judged by the AP board to potentially earn college credit.

“For AP art we have to have a section, which is called our breadth, which is 12 paintings where we show all of our skills,” junior Brooke Vogt said. “Then we have our concentrations where we have to follow a theme. My theme has to do with different patterns from different countries.”

Pieces submitted under a theme can be any created through any medium, such as watercolor, ink or oil painting. Despite the creative freedom, students agree that the assignment is not an easy one.

“Trying to not just be aesthetical but to be compositional and the more abstract the concepts that you need to incorporate or your art to be good art, not just well-painted [is the hardest part,]” Reith said. “The best part has been getting better and feeling more confident in my art.”

Students like Vogt have taken up possibly extreme habits to complete the assignment.

“Putting [the portfolio] together has been a lot of hard work,” Vogt said. “A lot of long nights staying up, I just listen to music and work on my art continuously. Last weekend I worked on my art for 12 hours total, six on one day and six the next. It was insane, because I was procrastinating.”

Ultimately, the momentous assignment has given each artist a chance to explore their art deeper.

“I want people to know that there is some type of meaning behind it, that I have some type of thing to tell them with my art,” Reith said.