This spring, senior Soren Frederick was one of 34 artists whose work was selected to be featured at the Missouri Capitol for the Missouri Senate Student Arts Exhibit. Founded in 2014 by the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education, the exhibit annually showcases artistic creations by students in all 34 of Missouri’s Senate districts.

Frederick’s piece “Reflections” was selected by District 15 Sen. Andrew Koenig. The artwork, a depiction of the St. Lorenz Cathedral in Nuremberg, Germany, was part of Frederick’s portfolio for his AP Drawing class. For his Sustained Investigation, Fredrick chose to explore the theme ‘How do humans, through art and architecture, reflect what they observe of the nature of God?’

“I didn’t have much of an idea of what I wanted to do for the Sustained Investigation. The most basic reason [of why I chose my theme] is that I have a lot of good pictures [from] visiting cathedrals. [My] second reason was that I dislike a lot of secular themes that I see in artwork, so I wanted to break against that,” Frederick said. 

“Reflections” made its debut at West’s Annual Regional Art Show, where it caught the eyes of many passersby because of its technicality and intricate ornamentation. Frederick worked with art teacher Kat Briggs while creating the painting; Briggs decided to submit “Reflections” to the Missouri Senate Student Arts Exhibit, because she believed Frederick had a solid vision when creating it. 

“[Soren] is really inquisitive, so he’s serious about his work. [For his Sustained Investigation], he hit the ground running with something that was very meaningful to him; his work is about his religion, so I could tell right off the bat that he was ready to make something personal to him,” Briggs said. 

Frederick, born into a family of creatives, found his passion for art very early on in his life. Through his journey as an artist, he slowly built his specific niche of creation: intricate, realistic architectural paintings. 

“[Drawing is] a big hobby for my family; my brother and sister very much surpass me, but I do my best. [For] painting, I’ve done some watercolor, as my mom has for some time, but wasn’t very into it,” Frederick said.  “I enjoy realism and the romantic period, but less so in terms of drawing humans; I’ve never been good at that. I stick to drawing architecture.”

While creating “Reflections,” Frederick was inspired by previous family trips to Germany —  specifically, photos that he captured of cathedrals he visited. 

“I have a lot of family [in Germany] and my religion is a big part of my life. I’m naturally interested in architecture and history. I had [painted] one picture of [the] cathedral before, [and] it didn’t turn out nearly as I wanted [it to]; I wanted to bring a lot more contrast, depth and a range of values to it. The stained glass windows that I put in weren’t originally there — that was [added] to include some greater vibrance of colors, work with the lighting and [have it] play across the floor,” Frederick said. 

Going against the grain of abstract concepts like most of the other applicants of the contest, “Reflections” stood out because of its distinctive realism and heightened color choices.

“My mom got an email [and] told me [that I won]. I was somewhat surprised — a lot of artwork didn’t match what others did, and [my painting] was breaking away from what I think the College Board was expecting I put out. A lot of the examples that [scored] a 5 were very abstract, and I used a lot of techniques that didn’t employ [styles] like that,” Frederick said.

 Through his family’s history with art and its potential as a medium of expression, Frederick values painting as a large part of who he is. After high school, Frederick intends to study at the Technical University of Munich in Munich, Germany and continue creating art as a medium of expression.

“[Being an artist] means re-expressing [an] interpretation of what you observe: translating through yourself, what you see around you, what other people have made [and] what, in my case, God has made,” Frederick said.

This story was originally published on Pathfinder on May 2, 2024.