Upstairs in the studio, paint still drying on canvases, Claire Hurley ’26 has been trying to answer a question that can’t be measured or easily defined: What does emotion actually look like? And how does emotion grow, move, and change over time?
Her journey began with something deceptively simple — laughter.
Claire became fascinated by how laughter moves through the body: the way it starts as a spark, builds in the chest, spills out uncontrollably, and lingers long after the sound fades. She wondered how an artist might capture that on a canvas — not the expression on a face, but the physical, emotional ripple beneath it. Through abstract forms, color, and texture, she began experimenting. She wasn’t just studying laughter as a concept. She was trying to share it.
“I love how artists can evoke emotion in the people viewing their work,” she explained. “I wanted to share the joy I find in art with other people.”
That initial exploration grew into a sustained investigation of emotional movement — how feelings travel through the body, through relationships, and even through generations. Every painting in her series led naturally to the next, and soon, the work began pulling her outwards in a new direction towards the people around us who shape those emotions.
One piece explored anger experimenting with a new technique and ripped canvas. Then came a portrait of her grandmother, a turning point that shifted the series from purely internal to deeply relational.
Suddenly, the work wasn’t just about how emotions live inside a person. It was about how they move through families — how habits, reactions, and ways of feeling are shaped by the people closest to us.
Along the way, Claire has learned to let go of perfection and embrace the process — a familiar concept for artists that has pushed her as an artist to lean into abstraction and make work more freely.
During her senior year at LCA, it has been the journey of creating consistently that has helped her navigate both her own emotions and those of others. Her goal isn’t for viewers to interpret her work “correctly,” but to become more aware of their own emotions while encountering her work. If the work prompts someone to consider their own experiences — their own joy, frustration, tenderness, or resilience — then it has done its job. It is, in fact, an invitation.
“I want people to understand and be aware of the emotions inside of themselves,” she says. “People don’t have to understand what I was thinking when I was making the art, but if all it does is help people reflect on their own lives and the emotions inside of them, then that’s what matters.”
Looking ahead, Claire plans to study art and psychology in college, continuing the same exploration she has begun here. And as her work continues to evolve, she offers an open invitation: to step into the process, to reflect, and to experience the movement of emotion for yourself.
This is where “becoming” begins… At LCA, students like Claire are just getting started.
______________________________________________
AP Art Exhibition 2026
Gallery Reception | March 24 at 6:30pm
