Dozens of Local Students Win Art Awards

Over 400 middle and high school students from Fairfax County Public Schools students won regional awards in the Scholastic Art Awards competition. On Tuesday evening, Gold and Silver Key winners from Chantilly High School, Franklin Middle School, Rocky Run Middle School and Westfield High School were recognized along with their peers at an awards ceremony at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College in the Ernst Community Cultural Center.

“What we’re here about tonight is not something that can be measured on a standardized test. It’s not something you can bubble in. It’s something that is our essence and the essence of our young people, something to celebrate with pride and joy because we know that this is something that our community values and we want to nurture it and continue to grow,” said Hunter Mill District School Board member Stuart D. Gibson, one of the speakers for the night.

The competition is a national program that seeks to recognize the achievements of art students in grades 7th through 12th. The students’ teachers selected the submitted works last Fall and all were processed by the program from January through March before they were reviewed by a panel of judges comprised of professional artists and art educators in the Washington, D.C. metro area such as photographers and illustrators, art gallery owners, artist and George Mason University School of Art professor of New Media Mark Cooley and more.

This year, judges viewed and scored selections based on photographs of the actual artwork rather than viewing it in person.

“[Judges] look for creativity, a unique vision for the student as well as a higher skill level than people would expect, so it’s a really interesting experience to see all that really great work come into one place and you get to look at it as an art teacher and see the signs of all these different schools,” said Aaron Stratten, Fine Arts Resource Teacher with FCPS.

The panel reviewed more than 165,000 works and 1,677 of those entries came from FCPS students. A total of 171 students won Gold Keys, 141 students won Silver Keys and 136 were awarded Certificates of Merit for their work in one or more of the following categories: drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, ceramics and glass pieces, sculptures, digital art, film and animation, architecture, fashion, jewelry, comic art, design, mixed media and portfolios.

In addition to being recognized for the Scholastic Art Awards, students also received leadership team awards and scholarship awards. Several Gold Key Portfolio students won scholarship awards from the Arts Council of Fairfax County, Council for the Arts of Herndon/SAIC Technology and the Arts Program, Fairfax Art League, Lorton Arts Foundation, Springfield Art Guild and Vienna Arts Society.

Chantilly High School’s Alejandra Colque won the Cluster VII Assistant Superintendent’s Award for her work Self Portrait. Westfield High School’s Jung Lim’s Factory won for group two for the Superintendent’s Award. The Lorton Arts Foundation selected Westfield High School’s Tara Kalaf as their $1,000 scholarship award winner and the Fairfax Art League selected Westfield High School’s Marika Emmanuel as the their $500 scholarship award winner.

All Gold Key winners are entered into the national Scholastic Art Awards competition. Those winners are announced in April. A full list of regional winners, their schools, and titles of their work can be found here. The students’ work will be on display in the Ernst Community Cultural Center until Thursday, Feb. 24.

Chantilly High School

• Daniel Box - Painting Abe Adams (Silver Key)
• Seung Choi - Printmaking Love Silva (Certificate of Merit)
• Alejandra Colque - Digital Art Disintegration (Certificate of Merit)
• Alejandra Colque - Painting Self Portrait (Gold Key)
• Kaley Evans - Fashion Birds of a Feather (Certificate of Merit)
• Minjoo Han - Drawing Unashamed (Certificate of Merit)
• Benjamin Hewer - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Gold Key)
• Namrata Jacob - Drawing Girl in a Box (Certificate of Merit)
• Brayden Mariani - Photography Social Lobotomy (Certificate of Merit)
• Cara Schmidt - Photography Into the Unknown (Certificate of Merit)
• Cara Schmidt - Photography Midnight Fears (Gold Key)
• Ryan Smith - Mixed Media Broken Sky (Gold Key)
• Diana Soy - Printmaking Ambition (Gold Key)
• Madelaine Stanley - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Gold Key)

Franklin Middle School

• Kendra Maynard - Drawing Underwater Tornado (Silver Key)
• Tess Sapone - Printmaking The Tazz (Gold Key)
• Lauren Yee - Printmaking Tangled in Boxes (Gold Key)

Rocky Run Middle School

• Leon Kim - Printmaking "Creeping Thing" Ledbetter (Silver Key)
• Matthew Wise - Sculpture "The Piano" Ledbetter (Silver Key)
• Hyun Yoon - Comic Art "Day Dreams" Ledbetter (Gold Key)

Westfield High School

• Michael Allen - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Certificate of Merit)
• Michael Allen - Digital Art Changes (Silver Key)
• Jennifer Bae - Mixed Media Prisoner (Certificate of Merit)
• Jennifer Bae - Drawing Spirited Away (Silver Key)
• Shannon Barrett - Photo Portfolio Photo Portfolio (Silver Key)
• Olivia Bodor - Painting Blind (Certificate of Merit)
• Olivia Bodor - Drawing dress up and growing up (Gold Key)
• Maxwell Chambers - Sculpture Coil (Silver Key)
• Masie Chong - Design Alphabet (Silver Key)
• Anne Culbertson - Photography Brown Shoe (Gold Key)
• Anne Culbertson - Photography Untitled (Gold Key)
• Kelsey DiSano - Photo Portfolio Photo Portfolio (Gold Key)
• Kelsey DiSano - Photography Silhouette (Gold Key)
• Rachelle Douglass - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Silver Key)
• Rachelle Douglass - Digital Art Storm (Silver Key)
• Marika Emanuel - Photo Portfolio Photo Portfolio (Gold Key)
• Paco Gallegos - Design Typography (Silver Key)
• Cindy Ha - Design Rain Font Novak (Gold Key)
• Tara Kalaf - Photography Concealed (Certificate of Merit)
• Tara Kalaf - Photo Portfolio Photo Portfolio (Gold Key)
• Paige Kurtis - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Gold Key)
• Jung Lim - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Silver Key)
• Jung Lim - Drawing Dream (Gold Key)
• Jung Lim - Drawing Factory (Gold Key)
• Jung Lim - Drawing Whom (Certificate of Merit)
• Mary Philmlee - Ceramics & Glass Little Lamb (Gold Key)
• James Ro - Sculpture Transform (Gold Key)
• Angela Sainato - Photography Sunshine (Gold Key)
• Alejandra Soto - Art Portfolio Art Portfolio (Silver Key)
• Alejandra Soto - Digital Art Cheetah (Certificate of Merit)
• Amber Swensen - Digital Art Dreams (Certificate of Merit)
• Hannah Watson - Photography I Am Alone (Certificate of Merit)
• Jessica Wilson - Painting bottles (Certificate of Merit)