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BHS Student Spotlight on Emma Posey

By Connect-Bridgeport Staff on March 03, 2018 via Connect-Bridgeport.com

Editor's Note: The following article was submitted by Bridgeport High School journalism student Lilah Kimble and was not assigned to the staff of Connect-Bridgeport. 
 
by Lilah Kimble
 
Emma Posey is a distinguished senior art student of Mrs. Courtney Rankin. Emma has won an art show, and she also attended the Governor’s School for the Arts as one of the 18 artists selected. Emma has improved Bridgeport High School with her talents. Her sophomore year, Emma wrote and illustrated a story for the book Memories: Treasured Moments in Time that her computer art class published. In addition, Emma painted the announcing table in the media room, the Indian heads on the sidewalk outside of the school, and she is finishing the mural in the arts hallway.
 
How long have you been pursuing art?
I’ve been surrounded by art ever since I was a kid. My mom and grandma were artists so it was always there.
 
What kind of projects did you do when you were smaller?
I mostly doodled in a notebook and drew book covers. My mom was a sculptor and she would sculpt dogs, because that’s what she got commissioned, and I would sculpt dogs with her. I got to give them little rhinestone eyes, which was really cute.
 
What’s your current art style?
Surrealism, which is giving dream-like qualities, things that can’t happen in real life, to realistic things.
 
What’s your preferred medium?
I usually paint, but I dabble in everything because I love experimentation. I’ve sculpted a lot, but I’ve also worked with charcoal and oil pastels, but I’m not a big fan of those. I also don’t really like acrylic, but I know how to use it.
 
Why don’t you like oil pastels and acrylic?
Oil pastels are really difficult to work with because it’s like drawing with a really dull crayon. You can’t get any accuracy and they don’t blend very well. You have to know how to work with them, and I haven’t done very much with oil pastels. Acrylic dries instantly, and it’s really hard to blend.
 
When did you have your first art class at BHS?
I didn’t have my first class until my junior year, last year. I’m pretty much all self-taught.
 
If you hadn’t had art at all for two years, why did you take an art class?
I wanted to actually know what I was supposed to do with art, rather than completely rely on what I taught myself. I didn’t know if there was something that I was missing. Now, I’ve learned that there isn’t really anything that you can miss from art, because everything is mostly up to you— you don’t have to do what artists traditionally do.
 
How many art classes have you taken?
In the past two years, I’ve been in six different classes. I’m currently taking Computer Art II, AP Art, and an independent study.
 
What was the application process like for Governor’s School for the Arts?
We had to complete a normal paper application, but we were also required to audition. I had to complete nine pieces and interview and explain the artwork in my portfolio. I also had to discuss my art preferences, like who my favorite artist was and my preferred medium.
 
Can you tell me about the mural that you are painting?
The mural outside in the arts hallway is a desert scene. It was actually started by two seniors last year, but they started it too late and couldn’t finish. I started working on it about the last week of school last year, and now I have been going back to do all of the details. It’s still a work in progress.
 
What is the story that you wrote for the book your computer art class published?
My story is “Journey to the Star,” which was probably the only one out of the book that wasn’t a memory or a lesson. It’s about a fairy that loves the stars, because she thinks they’re really beautiful— she has an adventure to see the star.
 
What are your plans after high school?
I have gotten accepted into the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which I’m probably going to go to, or I may go to the Columbus College of Art and Design.

What do you hope to do after college?
I would like to get a degree in illustration, and I want to write books for children about accepting yourself— including sexual preference and identity. Hopefully, in the future, I would like to open a giant art center that would hold free classes for people who can come and do the art that they’d like, even if they can’t afford it. I just want it to be a big safe zone for artists to be themselves.
 
How do you feel that you’ve evolved as an artist since you were a child into adolescence and then to now?
I’m not afraid to experiment or make mistakes, because I like to go into that experimentation phase and find a way to make it work. I think that is probably one of the most important things that I’ve learned because mistakes do happen. Whenever I was little, I thought that everything had to be realistic and had to be a certain way. Now, I realize that art is free and expressive and you can really do anything your heart desires.



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