This month the Drake Art gallery will house the work of seniors in the advanced art seminar. These seniors have worked for months to create and curate a collection of pieces that represent the skill that they have built and honed in the last four years. Titled “Senior Obby: A Roblox Affair,” the work is displayed until April 24.

Senior Mia Collins has had an interest in pottery since middle school when her mom brought her along to a poetry studio. “She’s not that good but she got me into it,” Collins said. When Collins entered high school, 3D art seemed like the natural next step. Her advisor and 3D art teacher

guided her work and her classmates fostered a welcoming community. Outside of the 3D studio, the 2D class meets at the same time allowing her to go back and forth chatting with peers in the other class.

The set up of the Advanced Art seminar allowed her to connect with other students engaged in similar long term creative endeavors. “The classes are a little smaller and tight knit,” Collins said. “It’s a really good community because everyone works together and everyone presents their work to the entire advanced art program.”

Collins created functional pieces to display at the end of her SPA art career: “each piece has their own little unique touch, so they all have their own story,” Collins said. Her time at the wheel at SPA and her own studio gave her the skills and space to experiment and perfect her bowls, cups and plates.

June Dalton’s art project took a different approach. Instead of starting a new piece to display in Senior Obby: A Roblox Affair, she remade a painting that she had created in her beginning painting course. The original is displayed in the library, to Dalton’s dismay, and when she was looking at it in May of 2024, Dalton decided to give it another go.

After abandoning the canvas for many months she came back to the piece for the final project. “I came across that canvas again and thought ‘you know what I want to paint right now?’ and it seemed like a good start… I painted for six hours,” Dalton said.

Dalton feels like she has been challenged in her advanced painting seminar and has used critical feedback and supplies that the 2D art teacher Spencer Legendre-Gillespie has given her: “[the class] definitely encourages you to explore mediums or sizes or any type of art that you may not have been comfortable with.” Legendre-Gillespie has pushed Dalton to “go bigger” and “do better” in her time at the advanced art seminar.

Out of the independence of the advanced art seminars comes the relationships and skills that it takes for students like Dalton and Collins to express themselves creatively. As the seniors reflect on their journey in art through art, they present their current and past pieces to all the advanced art students.

These talks are also open to the public and throughout the time that the gallery is open, seniors will be speaking during period one. “It’s just talking about their experiences as an artist at the end of their high school,” Dalton said.

See the senior artwork in the Drake gallery before it closes on April 24.