Art has become an increasingly competitive and critiqued field, with higher level classes demanding pieces fit impossible rubrics, and colleges looking for criteria within creativity. Amidst this increasing pressure however, Annika Miles-Wang, a junior in BIHS, preserves the joyfulness of art making.
In her IB Studio Art class, Miles-Wang brings her paintings to life and focuses on the happiness they bring her. She is constantly creating, and finds it to be soothing and enjoyable. “I’m always drawing and doodling while in class and it’s just genuinely fun,” she said. Rather than striving to follow the rules of the college board or be competitive to her peers, she makes her art for herself. Miles-Wang described her art as “something that I can do that I’m proud of. It’s something that I can produce and be like, ‘Oh, I made that.’”
Miles-Wang makes self portraits as well as portraits of animals and people. Sometimes she paints issues that she deals with in her life, sometimes she incorporates aspects of her identity, but she does so on her own terms. “I feel personally like I should explore my own identity in my art because that’s a common theme and it makes your art have more meaning,” she said.
She intends to continue artmaking into her adult life because of the joy it brings her, and will continue with her creative endeavors as a hobby as she gets older.