Students Share Inspirations Behind IB Art Exhibits

Ava Moyer (grade 12), IBDP student, focused her IB art theme on the glorification of prescription drugs in mental health treatment, which was inspired by personal experience. “A lot of these pieces are really close to my heart. I’m trying to encapsulate feelings that I have felt. It’s something that’s really hard to talk about and be open and vulnerable about, but I always say, ‘If I can make at least one person feel seen, it makes it all worth it to me.’”

IB students are encouraged to express deep emotion in their exhibits. While Moyer did that, she also appreciated the writing requirements of IB art, which are not so prevalent in other art classes. “I love being able to write and talk about my work,” Moyer said. “That's one of my favorite things to do. I was a writer as a kid - it was my first love.” One of the assignments in IB art was to find an inspiring artist, and write a cultural context reflection on them, which made Moyer realize how much her surroundings influenced her art.

Izzy Elowsky (grade 12), IBDP student, focused her IB art exhibit on the struggle of growing up, especially as a woman in a society full of external pressures. “You only notice when you grow older and you realize, ‘I shouldn’t have been thinking like that’, and ‘I was forced to do this because of society’.” In one piece, Elowsky expressed some of these ideas using symbolism in shoes, depicting the transformation of a flexible childhood using a ballet slipper, versus the confines of adulthood in a more structured shoe, the high heel. 

IBDP student Magnus Jurtz (grade 12) exhibited a combination of linoleum prints and black and white photography, comparing and contrasting urban and suburban environments in the Detroit area. Jurtz explained how simply driving Woodward Avenue from Detroit to Bloomfield Hills offered a wide variety of settings, and seeing those differences inspired not only his artwork, but also an essay. “I wrote about the 1967 civil unrest in Detroit that impacted history. I talked about urban renewal, which demolished neighborhoods to build civic structures, and discussed how it displaced residents. The freeway exchange used to be the largest freeway in the United States, and it just splits the whole neighborhood in half.” Jurtz’s exhibit is an extension of this reflection of history, and how policy and change have impacted this region. 

IBDP student Pallavi Ploucha (grade 12) took a different approach, utilizing her IB art exhibit to display joy, comfort, and happiness. “One of my favorite movies is When Harry Met Sally. It’s my comfort movie, so this [painting] is Sally Albright’s order from her iconic diner scene.” Furthermore, Ploucha intertwined the exhibit with photographic scenes of the Bloomfield Hills High School Theatre. As an active member of the theatre program, Ploucha explained how theatre and visual art are similar ways of expressing oneself, just using different modes, and said, “My IB exhibition was really about the themes and places that make me feel in touch with who I am, and so I felt like putting theater in my art exhibition was pretty inherent. I’m constantly weaving the two disciplines together and trying to find a way to make them coincide.”