WVCSD Artist of the Week: Addison Emm
Warwick Valley Middle School eighth grader Addison Emm has been making art for as long as she can remember, surrounded by a supportive network of fellow art lovers and collaborators that has grown over the years. For the past two years, Addison has begun turning what has been her lifelong hobby into more of an aspirational life pursuit. She’s been taking her own art more seriously, trying to hone her own personal style, and really taking advantage of the wealth of academic knowledge and artistic technique that her middle school art classes (and teachers!) have offered.
Both Addison and her current art teacher Julie Cosco have seen Addison’s artwork take on new dimensions and improve with all of Addison’s additional focus and effort. Still, Addison says any natural talent she has “probably definitely” came from her grandmother. In fact, “Nanny” is an active participant in Addison’s aforementioned network of creators!
“My grandmother, she’s a really good painter, we share pictures of the stuff we’re working on,” said Addison. “She works with acrylic paints and usually paints landscapes and things. She lives down in Florida, so she sends me a lot of pictures of the sunsets she’s painted.”
Addison prefers to work in pencil and paper and her style leans toward portraiture and illustration. She is particularly fond of using drawing to create characters, giving them not only a physical appearance, but building and representing their backstory through details and overall aesthetic. Creating characters ties closely to Addison’s other creative passion, writing.
Addison participates in both the Warwick Valley Middle School Literary Magazine and the school’s extracurricular Scary Stories Club. Her written and visual works have appeared in the pages, and on the cover, of multiple editions of the Literary Magazine. Addison said she enjoys “a little bit of spookiness” in her art, and that she is an avid consumer and creator of fantasy fiction.
“Both of those clubs are just a lot of fun. I mean, I love to write, so I think they’re great,” said Addison. She cites best-selling author Rick Riordan and his popular Percy Jackson book series as a particular source of inspiration. “That’s something I read a lot, so I think that’s definitely influenced how I write.”
This year, Addison has been expanding her experience with different media. Her class has been working with colored pencils, markers and paints. Addison’s love of art really shines through in how enthusiastically she approaches the fresh challenges that come with taking on a new media, a new technique, or style.
“Like with the colored pencils, that’s not what I would usually do in my own free time,” said Addison. “But finding all of those different values, the undertones and things, and blending the colors on the page was really nice. When I’m here [in the school art room], I just love being able to experiment and work with things that I normally wouldn’t.”
Addison is consistently on the Honor Roll, and made it all four marking periods last year! She is also a dedicated Omer who has been part of two WVMS Odyssey of the Mind (OOTM) teams that advanced all the way to the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals!
“This year will be my fourth year competing,” Addison said. “Compared to some of the other kids who’ve been doing it since kindergarten, I know that’s not much, but I’ve had a lot of fun with it over the past few years.”
The past few years have seen Addison and her OOTM teammates score multiple first place finishes at the OOTM Regional Tournament at OU-BOCES, as well as at the NY State OOTM Tournament. Her team’s also placed an impressive 6th and 15th overall at their OTTM World Finals appearances.
Ms. Cosco nominated Addison for Artist of the Week not only for her endless creativity, but also for her characteristic positivity, which also makes her such an effective problem solver.
“I think you have to be that in art, a really good problem solver,” said Ms. Cosco. “If something doesn’t work, you try a different way. And that’s Addison; she exudes a creativity that every art teacher just really appreciates, and it affects the students around her. Addison’s creativity is contagious. She’s truly an asset to this class, and helps out in more ways than she even realizes.”
Addison’s words of wisdom for younger artists also echo the idea of adopting a maker’s mindset that embraces opportunities over mistakes.
“You shouldn’t be afraid to try new things and make mistakes,” Addison would like to assure others. “Because when you experiment and you learn from things that have failed in the past, that’s when you can make something really beautiful!”
