Henry Gwozdz (11) asked returning students for their old student IDs for a project he’s working on early October. A student in Jewelry and Metalworking Studio, Gwozdz has spent his last three years creating many different art projects. He posts his work on Instagram along with a paragraph about the meaning behind them, with most of Gwozdz’s creations focusing on his own struggles with mental health. The sculpture with student IDs will diverge from the small-scale focus and instead highlight the student body as a whole.  

“This year is my third year taking jewelry classes and I feel ready to make some larger scale, more influential pieces,” Gwozdz said. 

Gwozdz plans to use the IDs to create a piece that discusses the student body’s collective grief. Taking inspiration from artist El Anatsui’s piece “Old Man’s Cloth” he learned about in Ap Art History, Gwozdz plans to create a metal tapestry made up of framed IDs. There will be five frames with no ID inside of them to represent the 5 students who had passed away since Gwozdz’s time at DGN. Though he hopes to execute this plan to the best of his ability, Gwozdz is aware that this process might change as he works. 

“Most of the time my projects come out differently than my original sketch. I used to be frustrated with this but I’ve grown to accept it as part of the artistic process,” Gwozdz said. 

Gwozdz stopped taking old IDs Friday Oct 21. He hopes that the final product will be something that all students will be able to connect with, regardless of whether their ID was used or not.

“I’m hoping that this piece really connects with students here and will bring us closer together, as my piece is a web of the grief that connects us as a student body,” Gwozdz concluded.