Black and white photos and paintings, clay molds, and toys encased in boxes; the 4×4 visual and digital media senior portraits lined the halls of the Building 2 gallery from Feb. 6 to Feb. 26. Students strolled through the gallery, embracing friends and discussing the art among themselves during the showcase. 

The 4×4 portrait assignment required seniors to create a self portrait and write a reflection about their emotional, technical, or artistic growth during their time in high school. The portraits varied in medium, only limited by their dimensions;4 inches in width and height, with students that chose to make it three-dimensional limited to 4 inches in depth as well.

“Students have created wire sculptures, made plushies and used traditional acrylic paint,” visual dean Lacey Van Reeth said. “Some students choose to use sculpting or other clay materials to build things out dimensionally.” 

Angelina Gustafson

Visual senior Angelina Gustafson created her portrait using acrylic paint. Her art depicts themes of growth and constant change, specifically using fish, symbolic of her Floridian upbringing and desire to leave the state after high school. 

“I illustrated (myself) fighting against a current or fighting against a flow of fish to show that I am leaving, or going against what my peers are doing,” Gustafson said.

Gustafson said she entered the school hoping to stimulate her technical and emotional growth by taking “advantage of every opportunity” that the school could give her.

“Being here at Dreyfoos, (and) being around my peers and the teachers has changed the way I make art and has helped me improve drastically,” Gustafson said. “In freshman year, I wasn’t painting, and then as I learned more from my teachers. I started getting more into painting and figuring out what I wanted to do.”

Gustafson’s favorite and “most impactful” classes were her painting classes, where she created self portraits. However, she desires to “branch out” into digital art and pursue illustration in college.

“I would say (my favorite and most influential classes are) every single class I’ve ever had (visual teacher Marcela Ramos Castillo) in, which was only freshman and senior year, but I still constantly went to her for critiques throughout the years,” Gustafson said. 

Marcia Marichal

Digital media senior Marcia Marichal used a printmaking technique to create her self portrait. She carved her portrait into a rubber block, rolled it in ink, and stamped it onto a wood block to create her portrait. 

“I add beauty to it (the art and the message of the art) so people don’t get what I’m trying to say immediately,” Marichal said, “You kind of have to sit there and be like ‘Why is it important?’”

Although Marichal “loves photography and wouldn’t change it for the world,” she decided to pursue television and film in college.

“I feel like film and TV has a much broader audience, and even then, that is still (working) with cameras,” Marichal said. “It’s bringing my photography to life. That’s how I interpret it, and I hope that’s what I do.”

Frankie Fielding

Visual senior Frankie Fielding chose mixed media methods for their self portrait, using painted paper glued onto corrugated cardboard. Fielding incorporated a pet dog and stars in the portrait, which are “recurring symbols” in Fielding’s art to represent their development as a person. 

“I included my dog because I love (him) so much and he’s been a big part of my life since 2021. That’s when I started here at Dreyfoos,” Fielding said. “It’s all representative of me now, and includes some elements of my past.” 

Initially, Fielding entered the school as a communications major before switching to visual in sophomore year. Fielding expressed a struggle to acclimate to the technical environment of the new art classes. 

“It was kind of scary coming in as a sophomore,” Fielding said. “These people have been doing art since middle school. I had always loved doing art but casually, so getting thrown into really technical classes and AP studio classes was hard. The teachers definitely helped guide me a lot and got me upright on my feet, and I’m so thankful for that.” 

In the future, Fielding wants to pursue social work, but also sees college as a chance to “do all the things that you want to do and learn all the things you want to learn.” 

“Opportunity will take you where you need to go in life,” Fielding said. “I’ve discovered this past year that I just have to take every chance that’s given to me.”

Rachel Felix Saavedra

Visual senior Rachel Felix Saavedra created a 4×4 sketchbook, binding pages together and gluing in her works from her four years of high school. For Saavedra, this was an ode to her sketchbook which captured the “flow” of her ideas since freshman year. 

“I feel like it really made me stay in the moment, because I take it everywhere I go,” Saavedra said. “They’re memories I have of moments and places, so I like going back, seeing what I did and felt at that time.”

For some, senior year can be a time of reflection. This is the case for Saavedra, who enjoys “drawing from life, (and) drawing memories technically. ” She has explored memories of her childhood and people through different forms of media, one being animation. 

“I want to go into animation,” Saavedra said. “I want to create movies, so it’s going back to that thing of creating memories. I want to keep creating.”