AP Art is one of Samo’s hidden gems. Students of all skill sets, backgrounds and ages are able to come together to create complex and extremely personal portfolios over the duration of the school year.

The AP Art class has one main requirement: artwork must be exclusively 2-D work. Besides that, AP Art is one of Samo’s few classes that allows students to have full creative freedom. This means students can run wild with their ideas; how they achieve their end results is up to them. On average, two assignments or prompts are assigned weekly. A recent example of an assignment requirement was simply to include a plant in the piece. This broad theme made it so students could produce works that ranged from characters with plants for heads to a street with plants running down the sidewalk. AP Art students can choose to work with any media they want, whether that be pens, pencils, markers or paints; these students' artistic freedoms are boundless.

Over the course of the year, students are to create a 29-piece portfolio that will be submitted to the College Board. Due to art's extremely personal nature, the grading system is based on criteria such as completion, creativity, direction following and effort. AP Art is a class unlike any other because it values all differing art styles. The class goes beyond labeling art so shallowly as good and bad.

One reason AP Art differs from other APs is because of the exam. AP Art students will submit 15 of their 29 year-round pieces. These pieces cannot be picked at random, but instead, each must fit the requirements of the sustained investigation. The sustained investigation is an overarching theme that all 15 art pieces submitted for the AP Exam must follow. Students are able to choose their sustained investigation topic, which can be anything the artist desires, ranging from mental health to world travel. Each piece submitted must be accompanied by a paragraph explaining the artwork to the sustained investigation.

Cecilia Fierro-Feinstein ('27) explains, “It's important to choose a unique [sustained investigation topic] that captures the College Board's attention,” Fierro-Feinstein said.

AP Art is more than just an advanced class; it's a space for self-expression, experimentation and growth. Students leave this course with not only completed portfolios but also a deeper understanding of their own voices as artists. Through balancing creativity and discipline, AP Art prepares students for college-level expectations while highlighting the individuality in every brush stroke, line, smudge, sketch and design.

Inside Samos art classes

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