Artist of the Month: Abigail Whitman ’26

Cai Parker ’27

Abigail ‘Abby’ Whitman ’25 has loved art since she was small, but began to get serious in the 5th grade. “I started with colored pencils specifically. I used to have all those books that were like ‘How to Draw Anime’ but they were truly bad, but they definitely brought me somewhere.” As Whitman grew up, however, her inspirations changed from books to Renaissance pieces, especially because of her many visits to Europe with her family. “I really like Renaissance art, and my family goes to Europe a lot, and so we go to a lot of museums that showcase that kind of art from that period. And I like to take pictures of them, then utilize them to create my own art.” A close friend, Ava Muñoz ‘25, gives her thoughts on Whitman’s artistic journey, “She always makes sure to display the things that bring her happiness, like her friends and her interests, and always makes sure to incorporate that in all the work she does.” Another one of Whitman’s friends, Ivie Enakhimion ‘25, adds “I think art plays an important role in her life, like I know she’s always had a passion for and, like an interest in it, since forever, basically. So I think it’s important because it [her passion] has kind of developed with her over time.” 

Whitman’s art has absolutely developed over the years, as mentioned by David Sigel, Head of the Visual Art Department and 2D art teacher, “Abby is a great artist because of her natural ability, skill, and mostly, what really makes it all come to life is her creation and desire to further her skill through practice and time…Well, I think it’s always an interesting thing to be able to look back at where she started and where she started to gain confidence. So I think no matter who you are, what you do, you gain confidence, you gain strength, you gain skill through that practice. So it’s inevitable that somebody who already came with such talent had nowhere else but to go up and to continue to strengthen who she was as a creative artist.” Whitman been refined her creative process for a long time, with one specific aspect in mind. “I guess for a painting, I start with a bunch of sketches, or I do a basic outline sketch of what the entire piece is going to look like. And then I practice sketching the individual components in detail. And then when I start painting, I do an underpainting for values. Sometimes it depends on whether I want to or not. And then I go over that with more in-depth colors and values and details and such.” Whitman also mentions her struggles: “Just getting things done, getting it started, honestly, is not as hard as me wanting to finish it like there’s definitely pieces. There are so many pieces I have that it just took me so long that I just got sick of it, and I didn’t want to do it anymore. And so there’s definitely pieces last year where you can see that some of the things I paint don’t look as good as some of the things I painted first because I just didn’t have the time to finish it off how I wanted to.” 

Whitman’s favorite piece of hers is Leaders’ Solitude, a painting of a girl sitting in a lake with a swan. “I like that one a lot, because it was something that I did completely outside of school on my own, and I pushed myself to learn a lot of new things by doing that,” Whitman reflects. “It was like my first time actually painting reflections in water and painting wet draper. …And it took me a very long time to do, but I’m very proud of it, because I really pushed my boundaries of what I could do with that piece.”

Whitman has grown from a curious 5th grader into an accomplished artist. Sigel reflects on her progress: “Well, I think she’s a true scholar and somebody who has an interest in always learning and growing…I think she is…a kind person, a good friend to all, and just a wonderfully strong, quiet presence…Abby is a great artist because of her natural ability, skill, and, mostly, what really makes it all come to life is her creation and desire to further her skill through practice and time.”