After graduating from Deerfield Academy, Andrea Leng ’15 went on to pursue English and art at Georgetown University. Leng has immersed herself in several of the studio art programs offered by the university and has created a Squarespace website to exhibit her artwork.
Leng recalled a childhood intrigue with attending art exhibitions, and visiting galleries and museums. However, it was in Visual and Performing Arts teacher Mr. David Dickinson’s class at Deerfield that she truly realized her own artistic abilities. Leng noted, “Deerfield gave me confidence not only to pursue art, but also to exhibit my work online and in public spaces, to get the comments I needed to improve my technique.” Having been able to experiment with so many different mediums at Deerfield, she was also very comfortable with the majority of the projects she encountered once in college.
In addition, Leng felt that she had an advantage over other students in her Georgetown art classes freshman year thanks to the rigor of Deerfield’s art program. Reflecting on her experience in Deerfield’s art classes, she commented, “Everything I learned from Mr. Dickinson haas proven very useful in college. I remember him telling me to take a figure drawing class with live models, and I ended up doing that the first semester of my freshman year. It really paid off.”
Due to the classes Mr. Dickinson suggested for her, Leng was able to improve her drawing skills and simultaneously determine her specific artistic strengths, helping her decide what classes to focus on throughout the rest of her college career and which artistic interests to pursue in the professional art world. Leng is a frequent contributor of artwork and illustrations to different magazines and publications around the Georgetown campus. With regards to her own website, she noted, “It’s cool to be able to step back and see the work I’ve done over time, especially since being in college.”
Leng is currently deciding between majoring or minoring in art. She is also considering a semester abroad to study art or a Sotheby’s semester program in London. In addition, Leng is thinking of going into development and marketing of museums or galleries, or working in an auction house. Regardless of where she ends up working after Georgetown, Leng hopes to find a position that has an overlap between art and business. She wants to be able to make use of her communication and writing skills in an art-related environment.
Wherever Leng ends up, her roots will always be at Deerfield. She reiterated, “The skills I acquired in Mr. Dickinson’s class will continue to help me improve my artistic ability, and to pursue my passions in the field with confidence.”
Leng is in the midst of planning a summer internship at the National Endowment for the Arts and hopes to start building her professional arts resume from there. To view the artwork that Leng has created at Georgetown, see her website, andrealeng.com.