October Artist of the Month: Bethany Huang

November 9, 2016

Bethany Huang (Sr.) conducting an interview for her Video Production Project “A Portrait of the Arts: Ceramics” last year (Vicki Li).

By KATHERINE NGUYEN
Staff Writer
The art of capturing movement and still life are two completely different things, and Bethany Huang (Sr.) has found her place in the world with the help of both. Videography and photography are both prominent aspects of Huang’s life, and in commemoration of her excellence in both areas, she was selected as Artist of the Month by Mrs. Hali Kessler (Visual and Performing Arts Dept.). She has been involved in both Mrs. Kessler’s film and photography courses since her junior year. Now, she is taking Advanced Visual Imagery and Advanced Video Production, contributing her talents to University High School’s Univision broadcast.
To Mrs. Kessler, Huang is more than an exceptional arts student. “She’s one of the most compassionate, thoughtful students that I have. She’s smart, political, environmental, and overall a great, stand-out person.”
Huang believes creating a motion feature is not simply filming and editing. It involves the process of writing and directing, formulating an entire story in one’s mind and producing a physical form of it. “Filmmaking is important to me because it’s so much about telling a story,” Huang said. “It takes so much to get one little scene done but it’s so worth it because when you put all those little moments together, it makes one whole movie. It’s all about the details, and without focusing on all those details, you won’t be able to get that whole picture.”
In the same sense, photography also plays an integral role in her life with its different, but just as effective, ability to communicate a narrative. “It’s one moment instead of the full story,” Huang said. “There’s a lot more left up to interpretation.”
Huang credits much of her inspiration to photographers she has come upon through Flickr, such as Rosie Hardy and Alex Stoddard. Flickr was also what introduced her to the world of photography, and the material on the site influences her to experiment with her photo-taking style.
In planning for the future, Huang hopes to pursue both forms of art throughout the rest of her life. “Video and photo have always been things that I’ve been interested in,” Huang said. “It’s just that I never really got a chance to explore it until last year.
“I feel like Mrs. Kessler has been a really important part of my development as an artist,” she said. “Last year, film and photo were simply things that I was interested in and now with her support, these are things I couldn’t go through my day without.”
To any students wanting to pursue the arts, Huang advises, “Go ahead and do it. But that’s not to say it doesn’t take a lot of work; so much of creating art is planning. But in the end, all it takes is [being able to get] it done. Don’t let anything hold you back. Just experiment.”
Huang clearly applies her advice to her own art, and agrees that the past two years have allowed her to expand her artistic skills to new horizons. Mrs. Kessler said, “Bethany questions her art and takes chances, and always looks for problems to solve visually. She consistently strives to be better and constantly takes it to the next level.”

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