GALLERY: Trinity High School

The gallery that I attended was at Trinity High School. The artist's name was Grace Cortina. She had many pieces but my favorite was the one in the lower left hand corner called "The Black Hole." I talked with Grace about her piece and she told me that the reason why she titled it "The Black Hole" was because many teens abuse substances and this has a negative effect on them physically and emotionally. Choosing to abuse these substances leads them to what Grace calls "The Black Hole." In her own words, "You don't know where you are going to end up, but you know its not good." The piece was created using oil pastels on canvas. The message she wanted to get through is that teens and even adults should not abuse these substances, or there will be negative consequences. The main thing she wanted people to notice was the black hole and that is why she made it the darkest and in the center of the piece. All of the objects were secondary and she chose reds, blues, and some dark green hues and laid it all out in a tornado effect on the piece. She told me that she enjoyed working with the oil pastels because it was very easy to blend and get the right hue or shade for her composition. She chose the layout because she thought it looked like the black hole was sucking all of the substances and taking them away to a dark place.