In front of the AP art students sits a blank sheet of paper, an unmolded block of clay, a blank slate on which to let their imagination and passions run wild.

AP art students have chosen their concentrations and will begin to work on their first pieces.

“[The concentration is] an area of exploration,” ceramics teacher Susan Simonds said. “It’s an idea, a concept. Kind of a train of thought, a sustained train of thought.”

The concentration will develop as the artist creates it, Simonds said.

“You pick something that is meaningful to you,” said AP 2D Art student, senior Katy Savage. “You design 12 projects over the course of the year. All your projects can be different but they all have to fit under the concentration. They have to bring out a deeper meaning.

AP 3D art students do a similar process to choose a concentration.

“You have to choose a concentration and you basically design your own pieces,” said AP 3D Art student, senior Alex Paton.

Students where free to choose their concentrations, Paton said.

“You just have to write a concentration statement,” Paton said. “Concentrations aren’t binding in any way. You’re encouraged to develop it.”

Savage found artwork centered on architecture on Pinterest and decided to make that her concentration.

“My concentration is the evolution of architecture and how it’s always fading,” Savage said. “The [pieces] will be architectural time periods and the bottom half of them will be kind of fading or melting. Kind of representing how the world is always changing and how each architectural period will influence the next. ”

Paton centered his concentration around an artistic quality, rather than a physical subject.

“My concentration is edges, simply put,” Paton said. “[It is] based around edges and lines throughout a body of work. There will be progression throughout the pieces. I’m gonna start with seemingly round and perfect edges, and progress to basically the opposite of that.”

Simonds appreciated the growth of the art students through the different levels of art.

“I think there’s a lot of growth that comes with all the students throughout the course of the year,” Simonds said. “Whether it’s the intellectual quality of their work, or the craftsmanship or the sustained vision of what they have.”