Artist: Shiori Chen
Writer: Derek Chang
Editor: Michelle Lo

Shiori Chen is a sophomore at Carlmont High School. Her snowy landscape piece is a stunning example of her artistic talent and creative vision. Utilizing cool, colored, soft pastels, she expertly crafts a winter scene that captures the serene beauty of a snowy day. Creating this piece was challenging, as she had to skillfully build around the shadows and use the paper’s white to depict the delicate layers of snow. It took her approximately an hour to bring this captivating landscape to life. Inspired by the enchanting illustrations in children’s storybooks, Chen aimed to capture snow’s soft, ethereal look—evoking a sense of wonder and nostalgia. Her snowy landscape piece is a testament to her artistic skill and ability to bring a magical world to life on paper.

Chen’s love for landscape drawings is evident in her work. Although she had not made art in her own time for half a year, landscape pieces have always held a special place in her heart. Creating these landscapes makes her feel a sense of tranquility and joy. The snowy landscape piece she recently completed is one of the last pieces she made, showcasing her fondness for capturing the beauty of nature. Unsurprisingly, landscape drawings appeal to a broad audience, as they evoke a sense of serenity and connection to the natural world. Chen’s passion for landscape art shines through in her work—captivating viewers with her ability to translate the essence of nature onto the canvas.

Artist: Cameron Kishore
Writer: Elizabeth Park
Editor: Shiori Chen

Artist Cameron Kishore, a sophomore, looks to the colors and textures of the natural world for her recent work Fish. She has been making art since the age of 3 or 4, she explains, but her past year at Carlmont has seen her working with more focus and nuance than ever before. In Fish, with its warm orange and cool blue tones interspersed to create illusions of water and light, what you see is what you get: the artist denies that there ever was a point to it besides the fish it is named after. She describes how the painting “became what it became” after 4 or 5 hours spent making marks with a pallet knife, and once that was done, she called it “Fish” because that is what it is, after all. For Cameron Kishore, artistic energy is best spent on developing the picture itself with paint strokes, and not on naming it with some poetic title. She had originally intended for Fish to be a gift to her family, but she’s not sure of that now. She may instead just keep it, as a reminder of what wonder there is around her.

Artist: Bowen Yan
Writer: Erick Cheng
Editor: Michelle Lo

Bowen Yan, a 15-year-old sophomore, has just created one of his first big photography projects called Stable, marking the beginning of his photography journey. Yan first got into photography because he was inspired by the works of Erick Cheng, a photographer friend of his, and after he learned more about it in his media arts class.

As a photographer, Yan puts a lot of thought into the way he wants to portray his message through his photography. “This photo is meant to show the stability and recurrence of seasons, showing that you can count on them to always come around even for a while,” Yan said. “That’s why the leaf is stable while the background blurs from motion.” 

From a technical standpoint, Yan used a long shutter speed of 1⁄2 of a second to give the background a motion blur effect. Yan also focuses his camera on the leaf, which was elevated on a cutting board, allowing the leaf to give off a clarity component to the picture. Long-exposure photography is extremely challenging to execute, even for professional photographers, due to its unpredictable nature. “The shot was the tenth try and I shot sixteen in total,” Yan said. “While taking this shot, the leaf moving made blurring worse and the long exposure often made the picture overexposed.” 

Another important part of Yan’s process of photo production is editing using Lightroom. Most professional photographers edit their photos as it’s a great way to enhance photos as well as establish a personal or unique style to their photos. “Using Lightroom, I added saturation to the photo as I drew on inspiration from images with moving cars on the highway or road and they make bright lines in the photo,” Yan said.

Looking to the future, Yan will become more active in the photography world, hoping to tackle more projects. 

Artist: Erick Cheng
Writer: Nathan Turnbeaugh
Editor: Michelle Lo

Erick Cheng, a sophomore at Carlmont High School, took this alluringly vibrant photo of the SkyStar Wheel in Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco. At the time, Cheng was only 8 months deep in his path to discovering his passion for photography. He didn’t even have access to his own camera, yet he still chased his goals, borrowing his sister’s camera to develop his skills. 

There was no plan or idea Cheng had in mind before taking this photo. It was simply a product of spontaneous inspiration as he attempted to replicate the properties of photos taken by film cameras like Leica, due to his love for their stunning visuals.
Though there isn’t any thematic message or feeling Cheng hoped to convey, he said, “Always be aware of your surroundings; if you take a second to actually look around and notice things, you’ll find that things can look pretty good no matter where you are.” The truth behind this statement is breathtakingly evident in his work Skystar.

Artist: Erick Cheng
Writer: Shiori Chen
Editor: Michelle Lo

Erick Cheng, an aspiring photographer at Carlmont High School and a devout contributor to the Art Showcase Club, traveled to Vancouver, Canada over the summer. While on a nature trail, he walked across a bridge, looking for a shot with good composition. In Cavern, Cheng didn’t know any of the individuals in the frame; it was a completely natural shot with some luck. “90% of photography is all luck,” said Cheng. It’s art in the pure form of raw human experience. 

Cavern took Cheng an hour in Adobe Lightroom to edit. Cheng’s adeptness in manipulating the contrast between the darkness in the shot and the focal point of light is truly remarkable. Cavern holds a special place in Cheng’s portfolio, remaining one of his favorite shots as it makes him feel at ease.

Artist: Shiori Chen
Writer: Brendan Ng
Editor: Michelle Lo

Using soft pastels, which are a bit like chalk, Shiori Chen created a sunflower landscape over the summer. Her vision was created from seeing a painting of sunflowers and falling in love with the pastel’s soft texture. No hidden meanings here—Chen just thinks sunflowers are nice and add a burst of color to landscapes. During a phase of designing lots of landscape drawings with soft pastels, Chen found joy in the medium’s texture; as it gave her drawings a storybook-like feel. This piece is for anyone who loves sunflowers; after all, who doesn’t? A cool story about this artwork: Chen thought it was lost, but it was simply hiding behind some furniture. When found a year later, it ended an art block, inspiring Chen to create more art. With its simple charm and personal tale, Chen’s sunflower landscape entices everyone to relish in its bright and cheerful hues.

Artist: Shiori Chen
Writer: Jiho Park
Editor: Michelle Lo

This artwork was created by Shiori Chen, a sophomore at Carlmont High School. Chen made this charcoal painting using pieces of charcoals and a reference photo on Pinterest. Using streaks of gray and black, she was able to depict the image of a girl holding a phone while also using those darker hues to create shadows on the piece—constructing a more realistic and 3D pop to the piece. Chen calls this painting “Pick Up,” and she was inspired by a photo on Pinterest that piqued her interest. While this piece has no deeper meaning, the girl’s stare into the viewer’s eyes leaves the viewer wondering who the girl is calling—and why.

Artist: Erick Cheng
Writer: Aaroha Save
Editor: Shiori Chen

Erick Cheng, a 15-year-old sophomore, has spent days preparing for Halloween with a unique theme in mind. He used items like old curtains and fake blood bandages, and with the help of his friend, Jiho Park, Cheng crafts photos that represent seasonal depression and loneliness. His creative process involved taking the photo, editing it, and then promoting it. The image captures the essence of this time of year, as well as the underlying theme of the photo with a gloomy, green and dark aesthetic. Cheng’s goal is to use this Halloween project to spread awareness about loneliness and seasonal depression, using his art as a medium to address these important issues.

Artist: Alaina Yung, Michelle Lo
Writer: Shiori Chen
Editor: Johnathan Park

Michelle Lo and Alaina Yung, two sophomores at Carlmont High School, collaborated to create their mixed medium piece, “Memoirs of Fall.” The work arose from Lo’s poem on fall memories, which Yung attempted to express through an acrylic portrait.

The simplicity and warmth of autumn Lo depicts in her poetry characterizes her happy times as a child when she visited pumpkin patches. “Memoirs of Fall” is an intimate reflection of Lo’s experiences, reflecting the melancholy and nostalgia of the past seasons, which both stayed the same as she grew and changed. Lo sought to articulate the complex emotions associated with change– fear, sadness, and nostalgia– for people who experience the same sentiments.

Yung aimed to illustrate Lo’s vision and used various approaches to maintain the theme of seasons changing. With acrylic paint on acrylic paper and her knowledge of color theory, Yung added a gradient to the sky and on the ground to create a more cohesive background. The piece’s message can be seen through the juxtaposition of the painting’s two sides. With brighter colors, one side of the piece represents one season, and the other, with darker colors, represents a different season.

The two artists won Art Showcase Club’s October “monthly” with their work. Further, through their collaboration, Yung gathered the motivation to begin creating art again after experiencing art block.     

Artist: Jasmine Gee
Writer: Ellen Li
Author: Shiori Chen

Since she was young, Jasmine Gee has always loved art. It fascinates her that a person can recreate what they see visually with their hands, going from something three-dimensional to two. As a sophomore at Carlmont High School, she often sketches portraits or designs products for her digital shop whenever time allows. Her preferred art mediums include Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, and pencil and paper. Gee actively seeks opportunities to showcase her art, so she joined the Art Showcase Club and submitted her digital piece.

Initially drawn as a contest entree, this piece depicts the scenes of summer activities from a dog’s perspective to make it stand out from the others. During a barbeque session with her family, Gee got the idea for this drawing when she saw her dog trying to participate in the activities too. Then, using a stylus and her computer, she sketched the placements of the objects, drawing inspiration from household items. Finally, she did the base colors and finally added highlights and shadows. The entire process took her a couple of hours over several days. 

This piece serves as a collection of Gee’s personal memories of summer. She hopes that with her work, the viewer can “live through the drawing and just be able to experience summer by looking at it.”