By JOSEPH KELLARD
These subjects, mind you, appear in art form, each piece part of an exhibit of illustrations by Katie Truhn, a class of 2001 graduate at Oceanside High School. Entitled "Scenes from Baltimore," the exhibit -- consisting of drawings diverse not only in subjects, but also in style, perspective and color -- has no uniting theme other than the quality of Truhn's artistry.
The pieces Truhn displayed herself span from her high school days to last year, her sophomore semesters at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. They include still lifes of a granny smith-green apple couched in a complimentary crimson cloth, and a linear bottle of merlot beside a wine glass, two oranges and a red napkin. At the other end of her stylistic spectrum is the surreal "There is Something Out There," a black-and-white etching of a long-beaked bird with a lower body comprised of leaves who is surrounded by a path with pedestrians and a row of automobiles.
Many illustrations depict females of varying ages, including two young girls embracing each other while giving the peace sign, a worms-eye perspective of a young woman in blue jeans and a lemon-green tank top before a navy-blue background, and a birds-eye perspective of a woman's bare stomach, legs and feet that draw the viewer's eye to a tiled floor. There's also works of single subjects, such as a pair of soccer sneakers, demonstrating Truhn's attention to detail.
"I never know what's going to inspire me," she said about the diversity of her work, "so that's why it's not the type of show where the pieces are all related."
Her artistic talents were recognized early on, when then four-year-old Truhn's nursery school classmates were creating stick figures and she already had the eye and ability to draw details such as toes and fingernails. Three years later her parents started her on private lessons, and through the years she learned different drawing methods and developed a solid devotion to her discipline.
Late in her senior year at OHS, for example, Truhn found she needed to provide various colleges she applied to a full portfolio, a project she had to complete with limited time. "Katie started a brand new portfolio in about one month," her mother, Evelyn Truhn, recalled, "and when she starts something she gets in a zone, and she was up all night long working on this project."
When it comes to planning and preparation, Truhn is admittedly prone to procrastination, borne of her penchant for jumping from one project to the next. "But when I finally get working on something I'm really concentrated and I can work forever," she said.
She has her mother, whom she half-jokingly calls her "manager," to thank for making possible the library exhibit.
"It feels pretty awesome," Truhn said about the first in what she hopes will be many exhibits of her work. "I was pretty nervous because at a show you usually see some sort of underlying context that puts all the pieces together, which was one problem I had. But then I looked at it as a whole, and seeing that it was made by me I felt like it was a story in its own."
What's the next chapter in this story that is Truhn's artistic career? The illustration major in Maryland said she wants to spend her senior year at another school, perhaps out west or abroad.
"I definitely want to travel, but I'm not sure where," she said. "I was thinking of maybe going to California. Eventually I really would like to try out with a major illustration firm."
