One of March’s artists of the month is Vandana Kumar, a senior in Advanced Placement (AP) 3D Ceramics.
Kumar has put in a multitude of hours to hone her ceramics skills through constant practice before school, during school and after school.
Major inspirations for Kumar’s art include exploring existing historical artistic pieces from a large number of cultures. “I like to look at how other people have made their things and try to take inspiration from that,” Kumar said.
One of Guiseppe’s favorite artworks of Kumar include her exploration of her culture.“She has been doing a series… on her culture and women in her culture and how they are viewed upon, I love all those pieces,” AP 3D Ceramics teacher Lisa Guiseppe said.
Kumar also enjoys producing art pieces with practical purposes that she can actually take home and use, such as pots and plates made in ceramics.
Moreover, not only is she passionate about ceramics, Kumar also has a talent for sewing.
Kumar’s interest in sewing started during quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “I started by sewing cotton masks and making bags to hold things,” Kumar said.
Her interest in sewing solidified after making her sophomore year Winter Formal dress. Furthermore, she also crafted her own prom dress in her junior year.
Art is not only valuable to Kumar in her academic life because it also aids her in many other areas of her life.
Consistently creating art has taught Kumar how to be efficient when working. “Physical art—building something with your own hands—also factors into engineering,” Kumar said.
Art has helped her in creating an important mental process: doing several iterations and learning how to maximize results with a limited amount of resources.
Kumar’s excellent work ethic and dedication to her art is evident to many people that know her.
“[Kumar is] extremely responsible and hardworking, [she is] always on top of her game,” Guiseppe said.
Everyone has their own schedule that works for them but Kumar prioritizes her art and works on finishing it on set deadlines. “She is very consistent and she is consistently pumping out works,” senior Cassidi Casco said.
Along with the top 5% of Guiseppe’s class, Kumar strives for excellence and goes above and beyond expectations.
Kumar also inspires her classmates. “They see what she’s working on and they get inspiration for their own works and want to try and emulate what she’s doing,” Guiseppe said.
Additionally, Kumar’s consistency is incredibly motivating to her classmates. “Her consistency motivates me to be like, I should be doing that too,” Casco said.
Not only does Kumar stay on track of her work, she also helps her classmates in learning how to utilize certain ceramics techniques. “I didn’t know much about ceramics coming into the classroom but she helped me understand how to use the wheel and how to use [ceramics tools],” Casco said.
“I like the overlap between being good at something and being able to help others with it,” Kumar said.
Kumar looks forward to continuing to learn in her artistic journey and helping others with theirs.
