“Understanding my family gave me a lot of voice, even though I’m not literally speaking,” says Sneha Sinha ‘18 regarding her first semester independent study. Ready for her next step as an artist after taking all three levels of Drawing and Painting, Sinha eagerly launched the drafting of her collection, entitled Home, over the summer.

Mentored by Drawing and Painting teacher Bill Colburn, Sinha’s independent study entailed the construction of eight total eleven-inch-square collages, each a representation of a family member and their crucial elements. Sinha says, “I started out thinking I wanted to do portraits for each person, but that just felt almost too simple. I wanted to somehow show [each member’s] complexity. I thought a collage would function best for that because you have a portrait of them and of their face, but I think it delves deeper.”

Sinha’s independent study was certainly an independent endeavor, but Sinha and Colburn allotted at least a portion of Monday’s class as a time for feedback and conversation. Sinha says, “[Mr. Colburn] would often ask, ‘How does this feel?’ or ‘Where do you see this going?’”

Sinha also notes that her weekly journaling—accessible on snehaxsinha.wordpress.com/my-independent-study/—helped Colburn to synchronize with her progress.

“I definitely am [happy with the turnout]. It was a semester’s worth of work so it was very fulfilling to see it all resolve itself. Something about the installation is that the original idea of strings across the hallway came from a DP3 assignment where we had to think of an exhibition idea. So it was really cool bringing an idea on paper from months ago to life. It was also kind of like an indicator of where I am after being at the same school for 14 years and of what I have to show for it.”