Most students who are taking AP classes have until May to take their AP exam, but in one art class, they’ve been working on their exam since the start of the school year. In AP 3D, the students are choosing a sustained investigation and sculpting five pieces around a chosen theme.

“In AP 3D this year we are working on something that’s called sustained investigation, where each student will individualize a topic or a theme that they want to work on for the whole year,” art teacher Fred Rodriguez said. “So each student is going to build a minimum of five sculptures around their theme for their AP portfolio. In this class we don’t have an AP exam, we have a portfolio so these five sculptures will be part of their portfolio and at the end it will be submitted to the College Board.”

To get the creative juices flowing, Rodriguez gave students an assignment that will allow them to come up with ideas that could be their theme.

“Each student did three separate mind maps to come up with ideas that they would potentially want to do,” Rodriguez said. “And then from there it was narrowed down to one mind map so that way students know exactly where they’re going. We’ve already done five sketches of projects that they could potentially do in the future.”

Senior Megan Weidenbach is grateful to have the opportunity to explore her sustained investigation and be able to express her creative self.

“My sustained investigation is exploring human anatomy with industrial means,” Weidenbach said. “So studying the mechanics of human anatomy and how they compare to industrial tools or functions. This class is really fun, we have a lot of artistic freedom. We have  a lot of opportunities and materials to use. A lot of schools don’t even have an art program and so I feel that were really blessed to be provided materials and a teacher like Mr. Rodriguez who is so laid back and so willing to help us with whatever we want to achieve.”

Working on this project throughout the year, junior Molly Beckett is excited to see how she has improved on her sculpting skills.

“I think that this class is definitely interesting,” Beckett said. “It gives me a new perspective and challenge to sculpting things and making things that are 3D come to life. Im looking forward to seeing all my sculpture and all my ideas finalized. I think it’ll be really cool when I get to set them all up and see how my sculpting has improved over the year and see how much ive enjoyed sculpting all of it.