By Isabella Towne
Staff Reporter

Millikan is full of creative, talented people who display their work in a variety of art forms and expertise. As AP Exams start, the focus is on Millikan’s own AP Art class, taught by Mrs. Palsgrove. 

The class is formatted a bit differently to a regular AP class. Instead of a usual AP test, students in the class will be expected to present their art to a panel of judges, who will grade their art on a scale of zero to five, five being the highest grade. To pass with college credits, students must gain a three or higher. While this may seem stressful, the class is still full of fun. 

PEACE Junior Eleanor Topper describes a typical class by saying that each day they work independently and freely. Another student, QUEST Junior Lindsey Yates, says, “We get a lot of free time to work on our projects and websites, because it’s the end of the year, but we give feedback to other students if anyone needs advice or input on anything for their projects.” 

PHOTO COURTESY OF PEACE JUNIOR ELANOR TOPPER

One of Topper’s pieces called- “I Am Therefore I Matter.”

In addition to this, students also do contests. The contests involve themes and prompts, but the rest is up to creativity. Furthermore, students also do something called “sustained investigation” in which students have to make a series of 15 pieces of art that make up a question the student themselves come up with. In these 15 pieces, 10 will include actual pieces of art, whilst the other five are storyboard pages, idea planning, and mind maps, which help artists brainstorm.  

For example, Topper’s sustained investigation is based around the topic, “What does it mean to be human and how can I explore that through science fiction?” Eleanor is creating an illustrative narrative with original worlds and characters to answer her prompted question. When asked about that class, she says that, “This class has really pushed my boundaries as an artist and I’m excited to continue next year to develop my portfolio!” You can find Topper’s art on her Instagram, and Yates’ art here.