Clover Hill is full of artistic students, and offers plenty of creative electives and extracurriculars. Many artists do not get a chance to show their skills and talent, so a lot of work goes unnoticed. In order to combat this, the Cavalier Chronicle will highlight one artist each month to showcase their artwork and creative skills.

Senior Avery Tingen is an artist at Clover Hill currently working in Advanced Placement 2D Art and Independent Study. Tingen has previously taken Honors Arts 3 and 4.

“I started really getting into drawing when I was about 11 or 12,” Tingen said. “I would copy or trace images from comic books.”

Tingen enjoys drawing subjects, like different people and elements of the human figure, to fill up the space in her work.

“I usually focus on [the] people in my pieces,” Tingen said. “Whether it’s body parts or faces I have found that drawing people is my strong suit.”

Although Tingen is skilled with other mediums, she primarily enjoys using pastels.

“My favorite medium would probably be oil pastels just because of how expressive and messy they are,” Tingen said. “I don’t have to be precise when using them.”

Tingen created the mixed media piece, “Breathe”, using watercolor, paint pens and string. 

“I made this over the summer and toward the end of last year,” Tingen said. “It was really just an expressive piece I was making to try and calm myself down constantly.”

In Tingen’s newest artwork, she incorporates lots of detail and gouache paint to create a large self portrait depicting her own reflection in the mirror.

“This is my most recent and favorite piece I’ve done,” Tingen said. “It’s a self portrait of myself picking at my face in the mirror. I find that I often pick at my skin or hyperfocus on my appearance when I’m feeling stressed out and it oddly calms me down.” 

Art has meaning and purpose when it is being created, and when it is finished there is often an underlying message or expression from the artist. 

“I feel that most of my pieces lately are really detailed or give an overwhelming feeling,” Tingen said. “There’s always a lot going on and I like that about the pieces. There’s constantly a lot going on in my head, responsibilities, worries, things I have to remember, so to express that feeling in my art, I think is pretty cool.”

For Tingen, art gives her peace and an outlet for expression. 

“Art is really just my safe place,” Tingen said. “It’s something I do when I’m bored, when I’m upset, when I’m happy, it ranges in size, color and detail depending on how I feel. I can also use it as gifts for people I love.” 

Art has many important roles in the world, and it is a great aspiration for one to take their creative talent and turn that into something bigger that can enact change and inspiration.

“In the future I would like to work in the film industry, doing storyboards for directors,” Tingen said. “If that doesn’t work then animation is a good back up and if that also doesn’t work I can see myself at an advertising company, speaking with companies and creating ads for them. I’m not sure exactly what I want to do if I’m being honest.”