Pilutti

Junior Jill Pilutti is not shy to share her vivid artwork, whether it be on Tiktok, in art shows, or an Instagram account boasting several hundred followers (@artist_pilutti).

“I love sharing my art,” said Pilutti, “I have my public account so everyone can see my art, so I have artists that follow me that say, ‘this looks really cool, I love the contrast of this’ and little things like that. Everyone adds to it which helps me to make my pieces better over time.”

Pilutti’s pieces are the result of years of practice, beginning around three. She started with flat images, inspired by her uncle’s interest in animation, but quickly learned to love color- to adore color, after it was stripped away.

“In grade nine I went to this art high school where a lot of it was strictly the art stuff, and they had us work in strictly pencil for the longest period of time. So when I got back to working with color I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m never been leaving this again,’” said Pilutti.

It’s obvious Pilutti has stood by that statement, each of her works is bathed in intense color from her favorite pencils, the Prismacolors, or acrylics and watercolors. Pilutti’s focus is not just on nature’s colors, though, she also enjoys studying architecture.

“Actually, I am such a nerd, I go into the Architectural Digest magazines, and I look at the different structures and I put them into my school artwork because my portfolio I’m working on right now is architecture based, but so you still see the creativity in it,” said Pilutti, “I’d say my style has come down to working on objects and architecture and things that you can touch and feel.”

Adams

Eleanor Adams ’22 does not limit herself to just one medium of art, or a single style.

Her interest in art excelled in middle school during which she took several art classes, and then into her personal time. Out of the classroom, Admas creates many portraits in charcoal and more cartoonish pieces. At school, though, she focuses on ceramics.

“In middle school I did both 2D and 3D art, and in highschool I just decided to take ceramics. I do like drawing and painting, but I’ve stuck with working with clay through highschool courses, it just kind of happened,” said Adams.

Adams agrees that the two forms overlap; improvement in 3D only helps her 2D work. Still, she is more reserved when it comes to sharing her 2D work.

“I guess my 3D stuff I like to show off, ‘cause I’m proud of it. I’m proud of my 2D stuff too, but it’s more personal,” said Adams.

This discrepancy comes from the accountability Adams takes for all her 2D designs, since they’re completely her own, compared to the in-school sculptures she’s assigned. Adams puts more of herself into each completely original piece, but does enjoy a collaborative effort.

“I struggle a bit with coming up with cool ideas to do without having other sources to guide me, so it’s nice to have a guideline to do something with,” said Adams, “(It’s better) to have a teacher say, ‘Oh make something like this’ and then you can go on your own and be like, ‘I’m gonna add this whole spicy thing to it.”

Johnson

For Anna Johnson ’21, art has always been an escape. Her intricate pieces are a channel for any anxieties and are almost “therapeutic.”

The enormous detail in her work comes from years of sessions with her art.

“I’ve been into art since I can remember. Ever since I was moving my hands, I was drawing. I really don’t remember how I got into it, I just had a lot of ideas and it was a good way for me to express them,” said Johnson.

Johnson’s subjects include plenty of architecture, but that doesn’t mean those works are emotion-less. Her train piece came from her stress over auditions, when she felt she was being slammed by a train of work.

“I think that a lot of my inspiration for my pieces comes from kind of inside, kind of how I’m feeling. A lot of my pieces that are more exciting come from when I’m feeling a little bit more anxious or on edge,” said Johnson.

Another misinterpretation is that Johnson restricts herself by only working with black ink. Johnson actually finds her completely black pieces more satisfying.

“(Color) looks nice, but I always like seeing the black and white. I think it’s more satisfying and visually appealing with all the detail,” said Johnson, “I think that color would just, kind of, somehow mute all the detail I spent so many hours on.”

And spend hours on detail, she does.

“The first one took 38 hours total, the ceiling. The castle, that one took probably 17 hours. Then, the boat, I think that one only took 10 hours. The last one, the train, took a really long time. I think like 20 hours,” said Johnson.

“Color is overrated.”