Advanced Art teacher Mrs. Van Veenhuyzen took her Advanced and Advanced Placement (AP) art students to the “TROLLS” exhibit by Thomas Dambo on Friday, September 20, at the aquarium.

Dambo, a Denmark native, creates troll sculptures out of sustainable materials such as pallet wood, plastics, and of trash he finds.

According to Van Veenhuyzen, she took a class at Savannah College of Art and Design on silverpoint, a type of drawing technique utilizing a pencil made of silver.

After taking this class, Van Veenhuyzen decided that she wanted to teach her own students this method. While her students had created sculptures in the past, they decided they wanted to try it again but added a creative twist on to it.

“They’re huge and they’re so cool. So I decided, yeah, let’s go check those out. And so the kids went to the aquarium and took pictures of the trolls,” Van Veenhuyzen said.

After visiting the aquarium, her students crafted and created their own trolls using the silverpoint method. 

“I got my design from a troll with beads at the VA Beach aquarium. I thought of a downwards facing up perspective to try and make the piece look more powerful,” sophomore Addyson Preddy said. “The beads in the background represent pieces of you whether it be new or old, and how the pieces of you can be powerful.”