At Ojai Valley School, the AP Art program is an environment where students trade their free time for a chance to create college-level portfolios.
According to Laurel Colborn, who oversees academics at the Upper Campus, this program allows students to work on a digital portfolio in drawing, 2D, or 3D art. This allows students to enjoy a class while receiving beneficial credits.
“All AP classes give students content that they will see in college,” Ms. Colborn said. She explained that doing well in these hard classes usually helps students succeed later in college.
For some students, AP art is a great class for students to focus on what they love.
Junior Celeste Ayala joined because she wanted to choose her own projects. Celeste claims that this class is an opportunity to break away from a standard school day and focus on personal passion.
She is currently using the program to experiment with unique materials, specifically focusing on the delicate process of tapestry beading and the classes technique of oil painting.
“It’s really nice to have a less academic class in my schedule so I can have a bit of relief between all of my classes,” Celeste said.
While some students use the class to experiment with rare physical materials like beads and oil, others use the AP program’s flexibility to master character design. This freedom allows every artist in the room to follow a different path based on their own interests.
Senior Ana Sofia Samano is also using the course to turn a lifelong hobby into a professional project.
Having been a dedicated artist since she was a child, her current work is an ambitious world-building project centered around superheroes, heavily influenced by her years of studying comics and 2D animation.
While she isn’t happy with every single one of the projects she produces, she finds the process of creating action scenes to be deeply rewarding.
“It’s therapeutic for me to just focus on my art,” Samano said, explaining that she plans to pivot toward a more comic-book style for her final portfolio entries.
The program offers students a rare chance to control their own creative direction, but it also demands a level of time management and discipline.
For many, the challenge isn’t just coming up with an idea, but executing it under the pressure of strict AP deadlines.
Senior Mieke Wells took the course because she wanted the AP credit while doing something she is passionate about. However, she admitted that the fast pace can be difficult to keep up with,
“I don’t really love it just because I feel like we don’t have that much time to do our pieces,” Mieke said.
Despite the stress, she is proud that she has been able to stay on top of her work and finish her projects on time.