Artist Profile: Dena Molnär
It's
all in the family for Dena Molnär, a junior at Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr., School of the
Arts. Her father made his living doing abstract, conceptual art in the 70s, and her twin
sister -- whose artwork was used to teach AP Studio Art workshops -- is one of her primary
muses. "My dad got us involved in art as kids and encouraged us to be creative,"
says Dena. And it shows. She was accepted into the magnet program at what was then known
as Palm Beach County School of the Arts in 8th grade and is still going strong. Her
schedule averages five hours of art per day, with AP Art History, AP English, government,
and phys. ed. mixed in for good measure. Her work as a senior is different from the piece that appears here. "My work is less design oriented this year. I'm using more oil paint, doing figures, faces, and working on composition and on bigger pieces. One of my current projects is a 4' x 3' painting of a figure with coiled leaves intertwined. I'm into strange angles, contortion, movement." To advance her study of the figure, she's rigged a chair with mirrors so that she can get an aerial view of her back.
The creation of last year's piece began when she was on vacation in New York City and found a Korean paper. She put it in her scrapbook of ideas and eventually incorporated it into her oil painting of the crossed feet by painstakingly cutting up the paper into squares, one symbol to each piece, and applying them to the canvas.
Dena has many good things to say about her AP experience. "My ideas have matured by taking AP. It's definitely worth it because it makes you organize your ideas and put them in a concrete mode. And, you narrow down the thoughts and work on one idea and see it through." Perhaps most importantly, Dena reports that "I now know why I'm doing what I'm doing." One element of Dena's art experience that she can't get from AP is the unique collaboration she has with her twin sister, Chelsea. "She's one of my main sources of inspiration. She'll throw out an idea and I'll build off of it, and vice versa." The sisters are hoping to attend art school together.
Dena (and Chelsea) are now in the midst of applying to colleges, including Cooper Union, Chicago Art Institute, RISD, and Maryland Institute College of Art. What would Dena like to do with her talents in the future? "Ideally? I'd like to be sponsored and paint the rest of my life. But realistically? I definitely want to get a job in the art realm after my four years of art school -- maybe as a college professor or in advertising." Just as her career aspirations are going in different directions, so is her art. "I love sculpture, printmaking, and photography right now." Given Dena's extraordinary talent and seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm, she'll be sure to make her mark in whatever direction she takes.