Art by Amherst High School Senior Anna Bernarde is on display in the Jensen Community Center lobby this winter. Please feel free to stop by during regular business hours to see it. Bernarde described her work for the Spirit:

What was your inspiration or concept for “The Weather Outside”?

My inspiration for this piece was rain. I find rain calming, and we had an in-class prompt that I interpreted my own way. The most difficult part of this piece was creating all the individual drops of rain. It was not only difficult to do, but it took loads of time to even find where I was going to place the drops without it looking like it was slopped on there and not thought out in placement.

What is visually most important to you in “Buttons”?

One thing I think is the most visually appealing in this piece is the buttons crawling their way onto the canvas and kind of caving into the character like she is going to get trapped in the clutter of buttons.

How did you start or plan “Dr. Dre-gon”? Did you just have an image in your mind and then create it?

I decided to make this piece because of an art competition called Visual Arts Classic. I wanted to make a dragon because at the time I was on a dragon kick and wanted to make something that I had never really tried before. Clay was one thing I never really experimented with so I was going into this one blind. I had to learn techniques that I never tried to work with before. So I chose this for the challenge and because I had interest in it.

What do you want people to know about your creation process?

My creation process for my art is greatly inspired by small interests or big interests that I have in things. I have also been trying to experiment with 3-D aspects to my pieces instead of the traditional 2-D aspects of paint.

What is your preferred artistic medium or subject to create?

I prefer a couple of mediums when it comes to art. I love to use acrylic and oil paint. I also enjoy using clay.

What are your creative outlets?

I enjoy things like music and art for the soul, and it is all fun and passes the time. I can’t remember a time when I did not have any of these things in my life.

Anna Bernarde with “The Weather Outside.”