Arts Student of the Week: Evan Pan

Evan Pan never considered himself an 'artsy person,' but his experience in Niwot High School's fine arts program has given him an opportunity to express himself in new ways. "It was actually the first art class I took at Niwot, and I fell in love with the process of making art," Pan said. "And I still have my first assignments from freshman year. It was a self-portrait, and it is probably one of the most atrocious things you've ever seen."

Growing up, Pan spent much of his time swimming and in high school he was a member of the Silver Creek swim team, which includes NHS swimmers. He did not have any interest in art, and he doesn't remember taking any art classes at Flagstaff Middle School.

Then he decided to give it a try at Niwot High. "It was the fine arts requirement at Niwot. I heard a lot of people complain that it was hard. But then I started, and it was very therapeutic to create the shade in a cube, or something with a pencil. Mixing colors is very therapeutic, very enjoyable."

Through the end of his senior year Pan participated in IB Art, creating paintings and ink drawings. "It was a fun experience, because it was the first time I got to interact with art history," he said. "And that just made me appreciate the process of making art a lot more."

Pan also tried his hand at wood carving, "which was insanely hard," he said. "I had this idea that I was going to do it and then I started, and my hands started cramping because of the small knives. It's painful as well."

As a child, Pan was more interested in architecture than art. He would draw his own buildings but, he said, "There wasn't any technique. It was just more for the fun of it." Although Pan doesn't consider himself very good at art, his work was admired by Joe Brown, Assistant Principal at Niwot High School, who nominated him for Arts Student of the Week.

Pan thinks he has an unusual view of high school, because he was only there for three years. "I guess sophomore year was my first year and I was trying to make friends. But I would say I like the teachers--that has probably been the thing that I have enjoyed most about going to Niwot, because they're really passionate about their job. And it made learning fun. And that's honestly, where the art comes from. Because if I didn't have a teacher that was into art and really wanted to teach it, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much."

Art instructor Laura Collier has been a big influence on Pan. "She's the only art teacher I've had," Pan said. "And she's really talented at teaching and at art, and I really appreciate her because even though I'm not pursuing anything in the fine arts, I feel I've taken away something I can call a hobby and enjoy it."

During his senior year, Pan displayed his paintings at an end-of-year exhibition. "You show at least five of your works. You have to have a concept. What came to mind was trees. Because I read the book 'The Overstory' by Richard Powers, I felt inspired by his writing about trees."

"My idea was to show trees within the frame of religion. How literature uses frame stories sometimes. I wanted to show my appreciation of trees and tree divinity within a frame of a faux religion." He ended up creating a framed altar piece.

Pan is also a filmmaker.

He was inspired to work on film while huddled up in his room in 2020. "I was just watching a bunch of TV shows," Pan said. "And at that point, I wasn't super interested in any of the technical aspects of it."

But participating in the NHS Film Club changed that. Over the course of two years the students in the club created a film titled "How You Met Your Murderer."

"The film was a rom com murder mystery," Pan said. "So it was a weird amalgamation of genres. It was fun to shoot, fun to write. It's extracurricular, but the meetings were fun. The specific shoot days two years ago, we were filming in a church, and it was an eight-hour shoot. Everyone was really on their last nerves by the end. It was really fun. I think it was eye opening for me."

For the two years the students were together they worked on the project. As they learned what worked best, they decided to form a club. "We had 10 to 15 people, depending on the day, which is plenty given that we were only writing one script," he said. "We voted on a genre and then voted on a plot and then everyone got an assignment to write within that plot, which is similar to how TV writers work, because they each get assigned an episode to write in which they are assigned a plot point."

The first year Pan was a writer, and then he was responsible for the audio, managing the boom while they were shooting. Next, Pan did set up and set cleanup. "After that, we did a casting call and reviewed auditions," he said. "Then we filmed and edited, and then we had a premiere in the auditorium, attended by everyone who worked on it, and family friends. And it was fun to watch." The next year Pan directed one of his own short films, called "The Matchmaker," a five-minute film about a woman who puts people together.

Pan also enjoys cooking. "It's very methodical and it's also creative. Which I enjoy because, unlike baking, which is really an exact science--if you put an extra teaspoon your whole recipe is kind of busted--you can cook and however it turns out--it can be burnt or whatever--it's still edible."

Now that he has graduated, Pan will be going to Emerson College in Boston in the fall, for Media Production. "I would like to go into film, either production or writing," he said.