Creativity runs wild
A varsity athlete, honors student and passionate artist.
Dec 13, 2014
She may seem like your average cross country jock, but senior Corrina Thompson does more than run laps. Thompson is often known as “the runner” or “that really smart ginger” — but little do people know that she is also an artist.
College bound – Senior Corrina Thompson represents the school she will be attending next fall, Washington University in St. Louis.
Thompson began to draw at a very young age, always interested in any arts and crafts and finger-painting projects.
“I used to do my brother’s art projects for him in elementary school and would give him my math homework in return,” Thompson said. “I’ve always enjoyed art. It’s become a part of who I am. I took some lessons when I was younger but I didn’t really decide that it would be something I wanted to pursue until I got to high school.”
Now as a high school senior, Thompson has been offered up to $100 for her work. Unfortunately, she cannot sell any of her work until she has finished her IB Art project according to IB rules. Nevertheless, much of her work has been displayed at the SMCHS art show and in the art room.
Thompson credits her inspiration to various people, including famous artist Jackson Pollock, who she strives to be like. Many of his concepts and ideas are incorporated into her own work.
“I love Jackson Pollock,” Thompson said. “He has his own impressionistic style in which he uses black splatter paint that he throws all over his canvasses. His work is very carefree and spur of the moment, which I think is how a lot of great artwork is made. I really try to have all of my personal artwork made in the spur of the moment, just like his.”
Varsity artist – Senior Corrina Thompson hold up two of her finished projects.
Whether it’s a blank canvas or a piece of wood, Thompson always finds some way to transform it into art. In her latest creation, Thompson created a self-portrait through burn marks on a plank of wood, just like brushstrokes on a canvas.
“Acrylic has always been my favorite type of media,” Thompson said. “However, just recently I’ve discovered that I really like burning wood.”
Although Thompson has already reached the success of attracting art buyers, she does not plan to limit herself to a visual arts career in college.
“I want to major in architectural design, but I also want to take classes in studio art and graphic design,” Thompson said.
Thompson has learned over her past four years at SMCHS that no matter where she ends up for college, art will always be a part of who she is. She has just been admitted early decision to Washington University in St. Louis where she will continue to pursue her dreams of being an architect
“They have a really good and well-known art program at Wash U, ” Thompson said, “I want to be somewhere that allows me to study a variety of fields, but I’m happy that I know art will always be there whenever I need it.”
Artist in action
Corrina Thompson puts her artwork on display at the SMCHS Annual Art Show.
The drawings, sculptures and photographs reflect individual SMCHS artists. Instead of going on vicious, depressing or delighted rants about their lives and interests, artists pour it all out onto canvases or prints, using different mediums to express their meanings.
For IB Art student Corrina Thompson, art is a passion in her life that never leaves her mind until sleep overtakes her. On Jan. 29, Thompson submitted five pieces for SMCHS’s 3rd Annual Art Show.
With every project they submit in IB Art, students are required to be original and include an explanation that details why they chose to portray their work the way they did.
Acrylics is splashed onto the page to create the chaos and movement of time.
Thompson’s most popular piece, Time, symbolized the chaos of life and the rapid passing of time. It has layers of splattered paint, with a melting clock where numbers are falling down. Thompson’s inspiration was Jackson Pollock, an American abstract expressionist famous for “action painting,” with the use of the “drip and splatter” technique.
“I made that one during junior year,” Thompson said. “It’s a very chaotic time. I never slept and I had so much to do, so I just felt like time was flying by so fast. I never got to slow down and just relax. When I did the splatter paint, I was angry at it. It’s supposed to look kind of stressed out and it’s supposed to draw your attention in, because you can’t see the numbers very clearly. Some of the numbers are hidden in there, so you have to really look.”
After looking back to the previous high school years, Corrina Thompson is moving on to the real world outside.
Corrina’s Moving On is a photo collage of SMCHS students facing towards a gate that is opened to what seems like a city at nighttime with blurring city lights. Then, acrylic is used over these photos for touch-up and enhancement. Thompson took the photos, painted the bars, and cut out the pictures of people she took.
“I made this at the time when I was deciding about college, and I was depicting moving on and going out into the real world,” Thompson said. “This kind of represents how we’ve been closed in, we’ve been sheltered, but at the same time it prevented us from seeing the real world, and now they’re opening and we’re leaving.”
The Three Fates hold the snip to the thread of life.
Inspired by the Greek mythology of the three Fates who control human destinies, Corrina uses pencil in Hands of Fate to draw the purposes of these three goddesses. Then, Thompson uses a red string to thread through paper to represent a person’s life. According to the myth, Clotho spun the thread of human fate, Lachesis (Allotter) gives the fate and Atropos (Inflexible) determines the time of death by cutting the thread.
“This represents life itself and it’s showing the progression of it,” Thompson said. “Here [in the middle] is supposed to show the ups and downs of life. Life is not always a straight line, it’s always very messy.”
A mysterious person holds a picture of the prosperous Detroit in front of the same, yet fading building.
Over the 2014 summer, Thompson researched the history of Detroit to find inspiration for her art. As the automobile capital of the world, the place where Henry Ford invented Model T, Detroit just recently declared bankruptcy and is now below the poverty line. In response, locals held up pictures of the city’s prosperous past.
“This is what I was creating [in my sketch, Detroit]. It used to be a flourishing city, and behind it, it’s fading out and falling apart,” Thompson said.
Through these pictures, Thompson has a clear passion for art and its effectiveness as a form of expression.
“It’s fun,” Thompson said. “You can make it however you want, not like math, where there’s specific answers. IB Art teaches you how to put yourself into the project, use research for inspiration, like other artists and things. But you can’t be wrong with art.”