What Are You Afraid Of?
Students in Mrs. Davis’s middle school art elective embraced their fears with a phobia expressionism project. Students choose a phobia, either one they have personally experienced or one that speaks to them, and illustrated it on paper. The pieces were created with charcoal and colored chalk. Using lines, strokes, and shapes, students chose an emphasis color amongst the black and white to further express their relationship with the phobia. This phobia expressionism project served as a form of art therapy that allowed students to freely convey their emotions from their personal perspective. #wearesaintjamesschool
“For my piece, I chose Thalassophobia, or, the fear of large open water/creatures in the water. The medium for this project was charcoal and liquid charcoal. I think charcoal was a great medium for this project, especially since we were in the style of expressionism. The charcoal was very nice for adding very dark and expressive lines. In my project, I used liquid charcoal, charcoal, and a dark turquoise-colored chalk. I used the chalk for emphasis on certain parts of my piece I wanted to stand out. I chose this phobia because I thought that many people could relate to having this phobia, and I like drawing sea creatures. Plus, I thought this was a very interesting phobia to illustrate. I had to capture what people may think of in the water if they have this fear. Such as, being afraid of a giant angler fish with terrifying jaws and empty eyes. I tried to also capture the fear of the unknown in my piece, as that is also a part of Thalassophobia. As in, not knowing what is in the water below, and imagining crazy things as a result.”
“The name of my art piece is “Haphephobia.” People with
haphephobia have a fear of being touched. With haphephobia,
human touch can be overpowering and even painful. So, in order
to represent this through my artwork, I have drawn a person being
overpowered by the force and touch of all the people holding on
to them. The background was done with liquid charcoal in a way
that shows the person reaching up to the light as though they are
reaching out for freedom. My favorite part of this piece is probably
the simplicity of it yet it still conveys a message, that I hope those
viewing it can also feel.”
