Senior Naomi Wong’s art has been appreciated and applauded by teachers and students alike since she began publicly displaying her work upon her arrival to KO. Naomi’s impressive works of art can be viewed in the art gallery of Roberts, in the art rooms themselves, and in scattered areas all around campus.
Naomi has been a talented artist from a very young age. “Since I was little, my mom was really artistic, so we would do [art] together,” Naomi said. “So was my grandma. She was amazing at watercolor. It just was kind of a family thing. It was great to connect people. As I got older, I just loved the idea of putting your imagination to a physical medium.” Naomi’s art journey has afforded her the opportunity to express herself, allowing for the articulation of her mind and spirit.
Naomi primarily works with graphite, a mode of art that is done with pencil and makes use of the metallic gray material that it possesses. However, for the last semester, Naomi has been working more closely with watercolor. Watercolor is a method of art in which bright pigments of paints are put into water, allowing for a quaint, washed-over look.
Her most recent project was done with watercolor, which portrays Naomi’s cousin petting horses. Though using watercolor intimidated her at first, Naomi is very pleased with the final product. “I’ve always liked watercolor, but it always kind of freaked me out because you have to be so precise,” Naomi said. “I’ve been trying to let go of that and to move more towards embracing abstraction and fluidity.”
Another project Naomi recently completed was for her Tracy K. Smith Symposium class. As a self-assigned “Smithy” – one who looked to bring the works of Smith to the greater community –– she produced a large work of art that she shared with the community in the Roberts Art Gallery. The piece depicts images from Smith’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poetry “Life on Mars.” To create the piece, Naomi focused on several of the collection’s poems and used the imagery, subject matter, and ideas within those poems to form her own visual representation of Smith’s written work.
Naomi’s artistic talents continue to impress her colleagues and teachers. Accomplished in many art mediums, her projects certainly captivate the mind, the body, and the imagination, and we can’t wait to see what pieces she produces next!
