Grace Fernandes (Photo by Kaitrin Acuna)
Grace Fernandes, a 17-year-old senior from Monomoy Regional High School is this month’s featured art student. Grace is a dedicated artist whose work can be found hanging on a wall or leaping across a stage. Her art takes on many forms, including visual arts, theater, lighting design and stage makeup
Grace’s approach to art is unique because it has no rules. She loves working with water colors, but also really enjoys paper cutting. Often times she will mix the two together for one piece.
“I feel like the greatest challenge for me as an artist is coming up with things to do because I like doing things so many different ways,” she said.
The inspiration for much of her work comes from nature, almost always plants and flowers, but she also uses art as a way of responding to thing that are going on in the world. Recently she had seen a play about genocide and it moved her so much that right away she felt she had to paint it.
“Growing up on Cape Cod you are surrounded by working artists. It’s not a crazy thing to work as an artist here,” she said.
Grace was born in raised in Harwich, and has been involved with the Harwich Junior Theater, since childhood. There, she is surrounded by set designers, lighting designers and people who are working in the arts. Her art influences are at home as well. Grace’s great grandmother was a quilter, painter and even owned a doll shop and both her grandmother and mother were artists.
“I have been sitting in my grandma’s studio, upstairs in her house, since I was was three,” she said. “We have done some in-depth art and crafts up there.”
Grace’s mom always encouraged her to be creative; in Grace’s family, they believe arts to be just as important as academics.
In addition to doing art at home, Grace had taken some after-school art classes, but it wasn’t until last year that she made the decision to begin taking art classes at school.
“I was always afraid of it, I didn’t know if I wanted someone to tell me what to with my art,” she said.
It was Deborah Donavan, Department Head for the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Monomoy, who kept asking Grace when she was going to come to art class; she was only taking theater at the time.
“She’s a wicked theater geek” Donovan said, “but she had sketchbook after sketchbook of this beautiful artwork that was very advanced, so I was like…. could you like… come in here?”
For Grace the art department at Monomoy is an amazing place. You can find her there 12 hours a day seven days a week, whether it be in the theater or up in the art room. Going to art class has given her a direction and a reason.
Grace spends most of her free time painting, at the theater, or with her theater friends. She has been cheerleading in the fall since 8th grade. She recently finished helping out with the make-up for the Harwich Junior Theater’s production of “Shrek” and is looking forward to stage-managing HJT’s next production, “Little Women”.
“Woman In Pond’
She plans to spend her summer working at HJT as an assistant art journaling teacher, stage managing at night as well as running her own face-painting workshop. She recently won the silver key award from the Boston Globe Scholastic Art and writing Awards for her drawing drawing “Woman In Pond.” Grace’s ultimate artistic dream would be to work on the set of a movie doing special-effects make-up.
“That would be the coolest thing in the world to do,” she said.
But for now, Grace is planning to further her art education next year. She has not made her final decision yet, but has been accepted at Mass. College of Art, Maine College of Art and is waiting on a decision from RISD.
Grace is also the president of the National Art Honor Society and has recently begun work as part of Child & Family Services of Cape Cod’s “Art Project Hope,” a program that has high school art students throughout Cape Cod adopting a 5- by 3-foot canvas and creating their collective vision of Hope.
Thank you Grace for adding to the richness and beauty of Cape Cod and may you have the best of luck wherever the future takes you!
— By Kristen Levy
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