Valor Dictus visited the art show on May 1 and talked to Sasha May, Catarina Griego, and Abigail Gleeson, three artists who were showcasing their work. Here’s what they had to say:

Sasha May:

Can you talk about the process for preparing for the art show?

“The preparation process is very time consuming and extensive; I’ve been working on it for the full year. I’ve been thinking about and planning my booth since last year’s art show. I worked on a lot of things over the summer, like my pieces and my notebooks that I sell.”

How did you get in to art?

“I took art in elementary school and then I didn’t take art in seventh grade, but then I took it again in eighth grade and I had Ms. Herce, and I loved her, so I decided to do it freshman year and I’ve been doing it since then, and now I’m a senior and I’m still doing it.”

What’s your favorite medium to work with?

“I enjoy mixed media. Generally acrylic paintings and then I embellish them with clay pieces or paper cutouts.”

Do you have a general theme across your art?

“My art is mostly nature themed. That was my exhibition topic for IB Art.”

Catarina Griego:

Can you talk about the process of preparing for the art show?

“For me, the process of preparing; first you need to do a portfolio review and, for me, I kind of saved that for the last week; I should have prepared it. But overall, it was both fun and kind of hard to gather up the portfolio. And I needed to learn how to mat, so that was a new experience for me also.”

How did you get in to art?

“I started in eight grade. I tried to learn how to draw most of the time, and throughout almost to the beginning of high school I started doing more drawing with sketchbooks and trying to improve myself each day, and now I’m up to here.”

Do you have a general theme across your art?

“Sometimes and sometimes not. I don’t really go for different themes, I just go with what comes out of my head most of the time. But sometimes there will be some messages with some of my work, but most of the time it’s just random crap.”

What’s your favorite medium to work with?

“For me, I love doing sketches a lot, but one of my favorite mediums is watercolor. I kind of hate it because I need to be patient and I’m not really a patient person, but overall I just like how the effect is.”

Abigail Gleeson:

Can you talk about the process of preparing for the art show?

“I took me a long time to do it. It took me a full school year to do it, knowing that most of the projects that were given to me during the school year I [would] have on display. It’s taken me a couple of pieces to work on at home in order to get a full portfolio. I got my board from somebody who did the art show last year who didn’t do it again, so it definitely saved me some time there. But it was very, I wouldn’t say rigorous, but it just took a lot of time working for it, but it really payed off in the end.”

How did you get in to art?

“I’ve been drawing ever since I’ve been born really. My mom, she’s extremely artistic, she went to VCU, so I guess that kind of carried off to me. I’ve always been surrounded by creative people, and it’s really been inspiring me and fueling me.”

What’s your favorite medium to work with?

“Oh, I think just a regular pencil and paper. I mean, I think that you can absolutely anything with that, and it’s definitely what I started out doing; just pencil and paper and going at it. And you don’t need much to do it, you can create something beautiful out of something so simple.”

Do you have a general theme across your art?

“I love drawing humans. In my sketchbook, I love drawing humans and how bodies move and work and how movement is in just a simple picture.”