Aspiring Architect Draws Inspiration from Her World Travels

Annsley Barton '19 used personal inspiration from her travels to England, Italy, and New York City for her AP Drawing concentration project. 
When she chose to draw statues from these places for her project, she did not realize it would also help her succeed in the architecture world.

Annsley is a skilled artist, but she also enjoys math, so she wants to pursue a career in architecture to combine both of her passions. “Architecture can take you anywhere,” she said. “I love the work environment and it’s constantly new. It offers everything I could want in a career.”

During the summer of 2017, Annsley traveled to the University of Oxford to study architecture for a month. During her down time, she sketched statues for her AP art project at Hutchison.

Statues seemed fitting since many architects draw them for practice. “Some colleges have architecture students practice by drawing statues because you have to be mathematical with ratios,” she said. “Without me knowing, [my art and architecture skills] worked together.”

Annsley sketched her statues with different colored pencils, which she said kept her engaged and showed off the personalities of the different statues. “I found it so interesting that different pieces had different looks, twists, turns and different artistic decisions,” she said.

The arts program at Hutchison was the primary reason Annsley was able to discern her passions. “Hutchison was the perfect fit for me because I could explore all my interests.” She credits Hutchison’s great teachers with inspiring her, too.

At Hutchison, Annsley is a part of the Certificate of Arts Program, which enables students to immerse themselves in a multiyear study of the arts. She was also inducted as president of the National Art Society, a position decided on by fine arts faculty members. When she isn’t in the art department, she participates in organizations like Chapel Council, the Crest Society, and the Wilson Society among others.  

While applying for colleges, Annsley noticed that her portfolio aided in the application process. “I sent in my portfolio to every architecture program I applied for,” she said. “Hutchison’s arts program and my teachers helped prepare me for this.”

Annsley said she would love to support her love of traveling with her architecture degree. “I want to do something that has international connections, whether that’s working as a consultant for architectural buildings or designing for residential or urban buildings. I would like to create connections around the world.”
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Hutchison is the leading private girls school in Memphis for ages 2 years old through twelfth grade.