From decorating her belongings to scribbling on walls, art has always been a part of Helen Zheng’s life.
Zheng first realized she wanted to pursue art when she began to create original pieces.
“Once I started doing my own art instead of just painting or drawing objects, and I started putting my own ideas into my art, it became more serious for me,” she said.
At Gunn, Zheng joined the National Art Society Club and took Advanced Placement Studio Art, which provided outlets to foster her creativity.
“I did the murals at school,” she said. “I worked on the one in front of the library with my AP art class after the AP test. It was a fun experience getting to design them and work on it with my classmates.”
The pieces Zheng makes outside of class incorporate a variety of styles.
“My favorite piece is kind of hard to describe,” she said. “There is a little person in it and also a lot of abstract stuff. I think it’s one of my favorites because creating it was kind of out of my comfort zone.”
When creating a new piece, Zheng prefers to see where her work takes her rather than creating a detailed sketch before she starts working.
“I start on the canvas,” she said. “I draw a little bit, but I mostly adjust as I go. I usually don’t do a sketch ahead of time because I feel like it never turns out how I want it to.”
Although Zheng has experimented with more abstract art, she still enjoys more traditional styles like oil painting and using mixed mediums.
“I really like using different materials and found objects,” she said. “I’ll use a newspaper from the side of the road or pieces of bark and just mix them.”
Zheng will continue to pursue her passion for art next year, majoring in biology and art at Columbia University.
“I’ve always wanted to explore more experimental work, so it will be really helpful to have access to all the resources and faculty in college,” she said.
