In early November of last year, the student council announced that there would be an art contest at the high school. Students had the opportunity to create different types of art in the designated categories including sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs or a piece of artwork created by a collaboration of people.
Students had a little over two weeks to complete and submit their artwork, as they were due on December 1st. 1st place winners received a trophy, had their artwork displayed around the school’s TV screens and their names announced on the PA, while 2nd and 3rd place winners received a medal, as well as their artwork displayed in the library.
Entries were evaluated on quality, creativity, originality, technique and artistic vision/emotional appeal. The art committee was not able to come and judge, so the artwork was judged by an anonymous panel of teachers.
On December 9th, the winners were announced. There were only a total of 15 submissions, but no one entered into the photography category and there was only one entry in the collaborative category.
“The fact that we had 15 submissions, I think for a first time event that many people didn’t know about, feels like a decent number,” English teacher Kristi Gillon said. “Artistic talents tend to be a little more hidden, so I liked the opportunity to showcase it.”
Even though there was only one collaborative submission, each contender still won a medal. Nicole Wadkins, Via Hoard, Loke Muscoe, Aux Rooney, Grace Dancer, Devon Maxwell, Isabelle Lowe and Abigail Schlaff created a piece of artwork called the “Meme Team” which consisted of pictures of their faces in the shape of a heart.
Grace Dancer also participated in the drawing category for the contest and won 1st place. She created her drawing using only pencil and called it “Diphylleia,” which is a small white flower also known as the “skeleton flower.”
“I was excited to win and it was something I wanted to get the chance to draw,” junior Grace Dancer said.
The winner for the sculpture category was Xandra Leonard. She created a sculpture out of clay and coils and called it “My Pet Snake is Exactly 3.14 Meters Long. He’s a pi-thon.”
“The idea was a vase that was getting squeezed by a snake,” sophomore Xandra Leonard said. “Then at one point, I added coils just because, and it turned out to kind of look like a face.” Xandra recently picked up a hobby of making pottery after a class she took over the summer.
“I think it’s really fun making something 3D that you can use,” Leonard said.
Though her artwork consisted of no paint, only marker and pencil, senior Kathryn Brumm won 1st place for the painting category. She named her artwork “Red and Black” and based it on two characters from a novel she wrote.
“Our school doesn’t really appreciate the arts all that much, so to be able to win the contest and hear my name over the PA, it was pretty cool,” Brumm said.
Students enjoyed having the ability to share their creativity with our school, as well as the competitiveness of winning the contest for prizes. Most of them did not even expect to win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place, but were instead just excited to submit a piece of art.
There hasn’t been much talk about this happening next year, but the idea has floated around.
“I would love for it to happen next year, but it’ll be whatever next year’s student council decides, so if they want it to happen again, we’ll make it happen,” Gillon said. “And if not, maybe there will be something new, but I like the idea of it happening again.”
