Arts Student of the Week-Nguyen Pham

Junior Nguyen Pham is a talented student in Niwot High's IB art program who prefers to let her artistry do the talking. She is currently enrolled in a 3-D design course at the school, where she has worked with everything from metal and plaster, to wood and clay.

Last month, one of her sculptures was featured in St. Vrain Unframed student art show, a virtual showcase of the most interesting student artwork from schools around the district. Pham's submission resulted from an assignment to create a reductive plaster sculpture, using positive and negative space and a few other minor guidelines. According to Niwot High art teacher Carrie Hinds, Pham's final piece took the assignment "to a different level."

"Most students see the positive and negative space as a hole straight through the form, sometimes directly in the center," she wrote in an email interview. But Pham took another approach, Hinds continued, "utilizing the previous identity of the form and the new identity of the form."

"She is adept at working in small spaces, and creating fine detail with a rather unforgiving material. Once plaster is removed, it cannot be replaced, if it breaks you change your design. The edges are clean and square, and she considered how it would be displayed."

Hinds has also described Pham's art as "energetic," and "executed with delicate precision and creativity."

"She is an inspiration to her peers, and should she continue with art, she will go as far as she wishes to go. I am excited to see what she comes up with next year."