Published: May 01, 2008 12:11 am         

Students spend a lot of time, effort on art work

Advanced placement art is a pretty big-time investment.

In Jena Kodesh’s Enid High School art studio, junior Rachelynn Coffman displays a large piece, about three-quarters of the way finished.

“I spent forever on this,” she said.

Coffman estimates she spent about 21 hours on each project, and with 29 projects for her portfolio, that’s a total of 609 hours.

Coffman, along with the seven other students enrolled in Kodesh’s class, are completing their AP art portfolios in the hopes they will earn college credit for their work.

Kodesh said the portfolios will be reviewed by college professors across the nation. Their work is supposed to be at the level of a first-year college student, and if the professors think it is Kodesh’s students could earn credit.

Projects that will be included in their portfolios, along with other pieces completed throughout the school year, will be on display and for sale Friday at Scribner’s Gallery, beginning at 7 p.m.

One exhibit will be Elijah Wright’s three-panel work, depicting the story line of a comic book he wrote. Another will be senior Carli Waken’s shoe-themed collection.

“My grandma gives me Vogue magazines every month, and I just liked the advertisements for shoes,” Waken said. “Plus, I have a lot of them.”

Waken is completing two portfolios, one in drawing and one in two-dimensional design. Drawing portfolios have to have mark-making to differentiate it from design.

“That’s the hard part, to tell what’s drawing and what’s design,” Waken said.

Other class projects include senior Ashlyn Joash’s collection of pieces on her parents’ native Marshall Islands, senior Harmony Benson’s colorful pointillism works of art and senior Patricia O’Dea’s ancient Egypt-inspired designs.

“It’s a very individual effort,” Kodesh said. “There are a lot of different projects going on.”

Kodesh said the students will donate 10 percent of sales to Youth and Family Services Therapeutic Foster Care Program to aid in art therapy.