2026 Senior Art Show

An Exhibition of Senior Artwork

Students are excited to showcase their work and share with the public themes like the pressure of a race day, personalities of pets, the passionate pursuit of achievement, patience through the process of baking, and the nostalgia of girlhood. Come and see the perspectives of five diverse student-artists exploring their thoughts through visual form.

Gallery Picket Fence Art Studio, 14700 148th Ave NE, Woodinville

Exhibition March 10 – March 13, 2026

• Monday from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
• Tuesday from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
• Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. – noon and 4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Artist Reception Friday, March 27, from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

This combined exhibition by Advanced Studio Art students features the works of seniors Joy Chen, Findlay Hartshorn, Lilah Pruner, Hanna Vinkemulder, and Jared Yu. Continue to see a sneak peek of the artists' work and read their statements.

Noise Amid Silence

 

Findlay Hartshorn

Silence is one thing when you’re alone in a room, or when you’re resting on a hike admiring a view. However, the silence between a meet official saying “SET,” and the BANG of the start gun, is a different sort of silence. The crowd suddenly hushes as the runners’ step into their blocks. Any member of the eager audience may not hear a thing until the gun goes off, but the poised runners hear every part of the silence that the crowd may be oblivious to. I was one of those runners, ready to run the 400 meters at my junior year state track meet.

When I heard the meet official calmy say “SET”, the silence that followed was anything but quiet. I could hear the rippling of the American flag in the wind, people in the crowd scooching forward on their benches—craning their necks to see. I heard the clink of fingers clutching a nearby chain link fence, the ragged breathing of my nervous competitors, a frantic prayer booming through my head, asking God for strength. Loudest of all was the steady drum of my heart, counting time until the blast of the gun.

Each piece in my series captures a different moment in a track race, specifically a 4x400m relay. The first illustrates the overwhelmingly loud silence that comes when a runner is crouching, ready to explode from the blocks and careen around the first curve. The second piece marks the very moment when all of a runner’s hard training is put to the test. It depicts the looming hand that has so much power over the runners, as it controls their every movement at the beginning of the race. The third piece captures one of the few team aspects of the very individual sport of track and field. It depicts two hands engaged in a dance called a hand-off, which symbolizes the passing of trust from an exhausted hand to an energized hand. Trust to continue the race with the baton, trust to make the team proud by leaving everything on the track.

Pet Portraits

 

Hanna Vinkemulder

When I was young, my favorite activity was going to the zoo. In fact, my dad would make a point to find a local zoo every time we traveled somewhere new, so I could see different animals. In third grade, after attending a farm camp for a week, I proposed we adopt a rabbit. A few months later, I was grinning massively as we drove my first pet, Pretzel the bunny, home.

Nine years later, this past August, Pretzel passed away while I was on vacation with my family. Losing such a precious little family member made me realize what an impactful presence our pets have in our lives. For my senior art project, I wanted to paint animals, and I thought the most meaningful way to do that would be to paint pets of friends and family and gift them afterward as a way to honor these quiet but irreplaceable companions.

“Tsukee” is my childhood friend’s 11-year-old Hungarian Pointer, a sweet, loyal (and sometimes moody) dog with an adventurous spirit. “Pretzel” is my joyful, affectionate bunny who passed away. “Sona” is my family friend’s young, playful, and notoriously stubborn Pomsky.

I used oil paint for the first time for these paintings, finding that to be a difficult but rewarding learning curve. I learned how to use underpaintings and layers to bring out warmth and life in these animals and tested my patience with the slow-drying oil. Overall, this project is an expression of appreciation for furry family members that also challenged me to grow in my artistic process and technique.

Introspection

 

Jared Yu

Raw emotion flows from the fingertips, conveying what the mind endures and what the soul refuses to silence. Since childhood, I’ve been drawn to Japanese manga art for its rawness and interpersonal intensity. With a multitude of styles dedicated to storytelling, I believe that the nuances direct the viewer’s eyes toward different focal points.

In this project, I reinterpret a variety of characters from various anime and manga, depicting them in a way that accentuates their restraint, passion, and resolve. With subtle shifts in expression or posture, I guide the viewer's eye toward emotional thresholds. These figures culminate together to illustrate and become extensions of my own psychological footing during a demanding creative process.

When confronted with difficulty, what surfaces first? Which emotions linger the longest? How authentic is it? My work investigates these questions not as abstract ideas, but as genuine states of mind.

Rawness. Authenticity. Integrity.

With this exploration, I ask not only what you feel in moments of trial, but who you are when tested?

In the Baking

 

Joy Chen

Growing up in a small apartment in China, my family and I never owned any microwaves or ovens. Moving to America at the age of eight, I was invited to a classmate's home, where her mom made us chocolate chip cookies and milk. I watched her throughout the entire process and was astonished by how simple ingredients like eggs and flour turned into something so scrumptious. Returning home that day, I begged my parents to pick up ingredients from the grocery store, copied online recipes, and learned how to make those chocolate chip cookies. Despite not having all of the fancy tools or knowing how to use the oven, my parents and I figured it out step by step together. Though the entire kitchen turned out to be a total mess, I knew it was all worth it the moment we carefully carried the baking tray out of the oven.

With my three scenes of various baking steps, I decided to showcase each step from a bird's-eye view—my perspective. The beginning, with light colors and clean lines, represents neatness and tidiness. The first step of prepping the ingredients is where the workspace is clean and ready. Next, all the ingredients are added and mixed, resulting in a messy and colorful scene. Finally, when everything is all mixed and ready, the mixture is ready to be baked. In this case, I decided to illustrate the process of baking cookies. As I got messier and messier with each step, the whole process was worth it in the end when I rolled the dough into little balls and placed them onto the cooking tray, ready to bake. I never stopped baking ever since that moment; my parents would always gift me various baking supplies. However, what really made me happy was not just the process of baking, nor eating everything afterward, but rather the chance for me to share my product with others—teachers, neighbors, friends, etc. The seed that God had planted in me from an early age sprouted into a passion for baking—along with the idea of going through messy and challenging steps but being rewarded with something delightful at the end.

Momentary Gifts 

 

Lilah Pruner

Playing dolls, making up dances, and running around my backyard as a little kid were such small moments, yet they are some of the fondest memories I have. What was it that made these memories so special? The joy and simplicity of girlhood. Each curious conversation, silly argument, and exciting moment were times I look back on and cherish. These things made up the essence of girlhood, young friendship, and sisterhood. It was a carefree and formative time in my life—a chapter filled with simple joys that must be fully appreciated.

As we grow older, friendships become more complicated. Siblings move to college. People grow apart. My first taste of this was when my family moved from the city I grew up in to a new country. I left the girls and friends that had become like sisters to me. However, while location pulled us apart, our friendship remained strong. Not only did this test the fruits of the friendships I had created, but it drove me and my sisters closer together. This experience showed me how much I needed these relationships in my life—no matter how small the moment or silly the conversations were. They didn’t need to be deep to be impactful on my life.

Through my series, I wanted to remain grateful for the experiences of girlhood and sisterhood that shaped me. I wanted to take a closer look into my own life, featuring three key memories and bonds that I had as a young girl. As I painted each piece, I reflected on the importance of the foundational relationships we have during our childhood and particularly became grateful for the beauty that is girlhood. I used acrylic paint on a canvas for all three pieces, diving into a study of skin tones and how to capture life using paint. It is easy for me to become distracted and overwhelmed by tasks, schoolwork, and ambition; but while we grow older, it is important to maintain the childlike wonder in each small experience that we have and continue to put the same love into the friendships that were once the most important thing in the world.