To Each Their Own: The Styles of Seekonk High School's Senior Artists

Seekonk High School’s senior artists may have had the same assignments, but their styles are as quintessential as their signatures.

Friday afternoon, Feb. 11, Elizabeth Machado-Cook’s art students discussed pieces which reflected their accomplishments throughout the scholastic year. Even the common thread of still life spoke volumes about each hand who sketched it. 

The finished products displayed in Cook’s classroom were a mix of assignments and independent projects; inspiration for these seemed to have been culled from all avenues of the teens young lives. 

Many self-portraits populated the room, the subject matter being readily available through the simple use of a camera or mirror.

Edward Olean’s self-portrait featured himself suited up centered within emanating rays of burnt-orange and yellow. The striking piece bears the words “Citizen Plain,” counteracting the vibrant hues and sharp angles which were anything but plain.

Another artist in attendance was 19-year-old Man Truong who identified himself as an illustrator. The three pieces he brought to the table were all done in grey-scale, preferring the simple contrast to color. 

The piece that meant most to Truong was an unassuming sheet of white paper with two anime-esque characters meticulously penciled in. 

“I draw this on my own. I used to watch shows like these. . . I’m trying to create characters for a comic book,” said Truong who hopes someday to become a graphic designer.

In the vein of comic book style, Cook’s students were assigned a pop art self-portrait which Brendan McCabe was proudest of among his tapestry of work. Ironically enough, the prolific artist admitted that many of his pieces, including stylized portraits of Danny DeVito and Bob Dylan, were quite time-consuming.

 “I always take the longest; Maybe it’s because I’m a perfectionist. Maybe it’s because I procrastinate,” said McCabe as he considered both sides of the coin.

An especially intricate work-in-progress was 17-year-old Ryan Brown’s monochromatic scratchboard piece. Fiber-thin white lines etched out a bonsai tree atop a waterfall popping out of the black on the upper left-hand side of the scratchboard which  balanced the pegasus among the clouds on the right.

 Thus far, Brown has devoted two months to the slowly developing scene.

 “I had drawn the pegasus before and we had to find fur patterns,” said Brown who chose the mythical creature whose wings fulfilled Cook’s requirement.

 Jumping from 2-D to three, Ashley Matano leaned more toward the ceramics end of the art world.

A glazed tile depicting Matano’s boyfriend was an interesting twist to the classic portrait. Matano, who’s now able to spend her hard-earned free time as a senior, spends most of her time in the art room, a trend she plans to continue with aspirations to teach elementary art.

Scroll through the pictures to the right to get a sense of their individual styles.