From April 11 to May 11, 2022, the Fremont Union High School District hosted the 40 Annual Art Showcase. Student work from all five high schools were on display at the District Office. Spectators viewed art pieces from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, Monday through Friday over the month-long period. 

Students who participated often worked on their art pieces for many weeks before the event, using a variety of different mediums spanning from paper maché to 3D sketches. At the Annual Art reception on April 28, exceptional student works were granted awards.  

“Students worked on the art pieces in class, and we [the art department] chose a few pieces to be displayed,” Ji-Young Kim, an art teacher for beginner and advanced students at Fremont said. 

The art pieces displayed included a variety of 2D and 3D paintings, in particular self portraits.

“My piece was done in graphite. We had to draw ourselves as well as an animal or object added to it. I chose to add dear ears on mine,” Mango Doherty, who won an award for their self-portrait, said. “Although it took a while to finish, it was pretty fun.” 

Aziza Mohammed, another student in Art 1, also had an art piece displayed at the show. Mohammed’s piece took around three weeks to complete during class, and some work was done outside of class as well. For instance, Mohammed had to find a picture of herself taken at an angle that would be easy to draw. For this piece, the subject had to face forward and turn their head slightly to one side, looking away from the viewer. 

“We did a lot of practice in Mrs. Kim’s class prior to drawing the subject,” Mohammed said. “We practiced drawing using the grid method, where we try to copy another image and use grid lines to make it easier to draw.” 

Students also practiced shading and other drawing techniques before starting the project. Overall, they enjoyed the process, even if making art pieces may be time consuming. 

“My art piece took about a month to make in class. I enjoyed [the process] and art as a whole,” Art 1 student Neha Balaji said. 

Balaji also drew a self portrait and won an award at the reception for her work. Overall, the art showcase was a success, and students enjoyed seeing their work displayed.