Entering the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, senior Dory Latenser held personal artistic compositions from multiple stages of her painting career for the Sketchbook Expo hosted by the Kemper Teen Arts Council. The Sketchbook Expo was held on Dec. 9 from 1:30 to 3 p.m.
The Sketchbook Expo invited local teens to bring and share their sketchbooks with other teens to be featured in a pop-up display. This event featured for the first time the options of trading or displaying small 2-D drawings and handmade objects, prints, trading cards or illustrations to swap with attendees.
“I have a lot of my art scattered throughout my house,” said Latenser, who attended the event that the council planned. “I didn’t even think about it as me making art because I didn’t see it. It was cool to have it all lined up in front of me.”
Participants decorated a name card to credit their works and add a further glimpse into their artistic identity. For Latenser, the exposure to divergent styles, medians and forms made the event a learning experience.
“I think it was cool and inspiring to see how people can view the world in such different ways,” Latenser said. “Artists show it in such different ways.”
According to Latenser, watercolors provide ease when making her pieces. Latenser usually paints landscapes and adds quotes that remind her of key figures in her life or motivational affirmations with spirals of color.
“I’m more of a watercolor girl myself,” Latenser said. “It’s relaxing and you can start and you can never really mess up with watercolors because you can put more water on the page and go from there.”
“Just seeing how beautiful life is in different ways,” Latenser said. “That’s very uplifting and in general super cool. During the exhibit, people put little sticky notes. Isn’t that cool? To compliment other peoples’ art is just so cute.”
