Senior Sami Mark is well known throughout the visual arts community at DGS. This year, she will have what is known as a Black Box for the spring art show to display her work.

Q: How long have you been interested/involved in visual arts?
A: Since I was little. I feel like everyone says that, but I have, and ever since I’ve been able to hold markers. I know when I was really little, my mom would say, ‘You cannot get Sami a coloring book. She hates it. She just needs to draw on her own,’ and people would still give them to me, and I wouldn’t use them. But in middle school, I think it picked up, and I was more interested in it and just wanted to continue to pursue it.

Q: What is art to you?
A: My perception has changed of it since last year because I’ve started to do portfolio reviews and college things, but I think some people have the attitude about it where it’s like it has to be good and pretty and that’s what art is, but I also think it can be very personal, and you can just express yourself. You don’t necessarily have to show it to people, but as long as you are proud of it, and I think it is always important that you are making something new. I don’t think there is bad art because you are making something that has never existed before, which I think is pretty cool.

Q: How many award shows have you participated in? At how many have you received awards?
A: I’ve done the scholastics art and writing competition since freshman year, and I have always won something at it. The first year I got an honorable mention, and the second I got a silver key, and this year I got two or three gold keys and a lot of silver keys. I love that show; I think it is a really great opportunity for everyone. I was in the IHSAE art show, the small works one and the bigger one in Chicago. There have been a lot of little ones and the spring and winter art shows here. But I’ve done a lot, and I really like the experience of being able to do that.

Q: What is your favorite piece?
A: Maybe the one, it was the first concentration piece I did this year, and it was called ‘Overextended,’ and I kind of had my hands over my face. It was good for me because it was just kind of like letting out emotions because that was when one of my bowling coaches passed away, and it was kind of just like a relief of stress from that, and I just let it all out. I think that one helped me a lot which is why I think that is why that one is my favorite right now.

Q: Have you committed to a college?
A: I haven’t officially committed, but I will be doing that this week. I’m going to go to the school of the Art Institute of Chicago. I have to register for classes next week. It was just a really good fit for me. That was the first place I applied to, and I was like, ‘we’ll see if I get in and then maybe I’ll go from there,’ but I did get in. Just everything they put out and shared with me has made me feel that that is where I need to go and I know I need to go there because I’d regret it if I didn’t go.

Q: What are your future career goals?
A: I do know that I definitely want to come out of college knowing what I specifically want to do but I want to find something that is a good fit for me. I like a lot of things. I like painting and I do commissions currently to earn money, I really like comics and telling stories so I don’t know if maybe there is something I want to do there or just find different ways to tell stories.

Q: What do you hope people gain from your art?
A: A lot of the art I make now helps me a lot, and I like to talk about identity and feelings because everyone experiences that. I think kind of like finding ways that people can relate to my art, maybe have it help them in some way like giving them a different perspective on something. I want to find some ways to be open and help other people.

Q: What have you gained from your experiences with art?
A: The very personal aspect is important to me because it’s like a different way to calm down. I know everyone has different stressors in their life and things they may not know the answers to, so I think it has just given me a way to support myself and calm down and give myself a breather to start over. Sometimes you can’t always talk to people about what is stressing you out, so I think this is just a good way to express myself creatively that people enjoy.