Blending works of writing and art, Frontier members fill the pages of its upcoming issue with many beautiful pieces as the club prepares to publish its first issue of the year after winter break, editor-in-chief junior Sunnie Gao said.

The magazine, titled “Cityscapes,”  will focus on how everyone has unique lives and experiences, which ties into Frontier’s goal of increasing inclusivity and showcasing a variety of student talents, Gao said.

“[The theme] helps encompass all of our unique individual lives through all of the different cities and sites our members have seen,” Gao said. “We can see how we live vastly different lives and have vastly different experiences from [one] another that make us all our own unique individuals.”

To decide the theme, club members discussed and voted on a central theme, ultimately agreeing on “Cityscapes,” prose editor, sophomore Aishani Kundu said. However, students are not confined to the suggested theme and can submit whatever they want to share, Kundu said.

In the months leading up to Frontier’s release date, Gao said the club has collected art and writing pieces by encouraging students to submit their work. However, this year, the publication faced a major setback when it received fewer writing submissions than desired, Gao said.

“I was thinking [of] trying to advertise our club more to prospective writers or people who are interested in writing,” Gao said. “Since more people think that our club is more catered to art and photography instead of writing, [we want] to make more people realize that it’s also just as much writing-focused.”

Currently, club officers are collaborating to construct the magazine on Canva, ensuring everything looks cohesive while keeping students’ artworks the main focus, Gao said. 

“There’s a lot of thought going into making all of the pages look good. We play around with a lot of fonts and color schemes so that it matches the vibe of the artworks and the pieces we have going on in that page,” Gao said. “We [put graphics] sometimes, but we try not to put too much because that distracts [the readers] from the actual artwork.”

For both writing and art, Kundu said the magazine publishes almost every piece they receive, making Frontier a good opportunity for students to get their work published and easily share it with others.

As a long-time participating member of the club, junior Irene George said she enjoys seeing her artwork printed in the magazine. Previously, her art remained in a sketchbook no one saw, but Frontier gave her the chance to publicly display and see her work in a new way.

“I took some really great pictures of cities. There were a few that I really want to publish because they would look great on paper. The phone does not do it justice. I want to see it printed,” George said. “I don’t really post stuff on Instagram, so this is a way for me to showcase my art.”

Similarly, Gao said that she values Frontier’s opportunities to work with others and create something beautiful together.

“We have so many talented artists and writers in our school, and it’s just really fulfilling to be able to make a magazine from scratch, and combine all of these pieces into something that’s tangible and that other people can read and look at,” Gao said.