The University of Wisconsin-Washington County is pleased to announce the talented middle and high school students who received top honors in the 2016 student art contest.
Twenty-eight schools entered artwork for the annual contest, with a total of 220 middle school entries and 164 high school entries.
Judging at the high school level was completed by Josh Lesniak, art professor at UW-WC and Graeme Reid, Director of Collections/Exhibitions at Wisconsin Museum of Art. At the middle school level, judges included Lynn Molenda, an art educator and coordinator of Wisconsin’s Student Centered Learning in the Arts action research group, and Shawn Graff, Washington County Campus Foundation board member who also serves as the Executive Director of the West Bend Friends of Sculpture.
Emphasis for the judging was placed on creativity, composition, originality, and use of space and color. The five categories for both middle and high school included: Drawing, Painting, Photography and Digital Illustration, Collage and Printmaking and 3D.
“Best in Show” at the high school level went to Naomi Loduha, a junior at West Bend West High School for a beautiful collage that incorporated 47 sheets of hand painted paper. According to her art teacher, Deb Prahl, the “project took several weeks to complete and Naomi put much thought into the organization of the colors and how they would appear when cut.” Using X-acto knives, the cutting started out randomly until compositional decisions needed to be made. Rubber cement was used to glue them together.
“Best in Show” at the middle school level was awarded to Jasmyne Beasler, an eighth grader at Badger Middle School, West Bend for her colorful self-portrait. Jasmyne is taking “Intro to the Art Experience” taught by Mr. Joseph Bertsch.
According to Mr. Bertsch, students were asked to combine photography, grid drawing and color theory skills to illustrate personal identity. After capturing her digital self-portrait on an iPad, Jasmyne manipulated the image into simple shapes that “would be fun to paint.”
Using the grid drawing process, she transferred the portrait to a larger sheet and then added black lines with India ink to give it a Pop Art feel.
According to Jasmyne, “painting was the best part because I love to mix color! I tried adding as many contrasting colors as possible.” Jasmyne who finds art class “relaxing” and the “only class where you get to be different” is excited to advance her skills in high school next fall with an art metals class and a 2D Drawing and Painting class.
Top winners at the high school level (by category) include:
3-D Media:
First: Lisa Flynn, West Bend West High; Second: Tyler Denmark, Homestead High; Third: Hunter Garcia, Kewaskum High; Fourth: Maggie Metz, Kewaskum High; Honorable Mention: Amelia Hansen, West Bend High Pathways; Izzy Janz, Campbellsport High; Rebekah Morici, West Bend High Pathways; Hannah Nehmer, West Bend High Pathways
Drawing:
First: Abbey Ford, Slinger High; Second: Rebekah Stege, Hartford Union High; Third: Angie Moyer, Homestead High, Mequon; Fourth: Marina Katanaeva, Slinger High; Honorable Mention: Samantha Falstad, Mayville High;
Jessica Robers, Horicon High; Hannah Schmitt, Hartford Union High; Ashley Wolfmann, Hartford Union High.
Painting:
First: Cera Propper, West Bend West High; Second: Jessica Strupp, Slinger High; Third: Sara Wirthlin, Homestead High; Fourth: Maggie Metz, Kewaskum High; Honorable Mention: Grace Krahn, Campbellsport High
Photography & Digital Illustration:
First: Joshua Lookatch, Homestead High, Mequon; Second: Theresa Scott, Menomonee Falls High; Third: Kathy Kumrow, Kewaskum High; Fourth: Jared Blanchette, Port Washington High; Honorable Mention: Cierra Brown, Menomonee Falls High
Collage & Prints: First: Naomi Loduha, West Bend West; Second: Kiera Fischer, West Bend West;
Honorable Mention: Sophia Kegley, Living Word Lutheran High, Jackson