By Sam Elliott
Dozens of pieces of art by Fishers and Geist area high school and junior high students were among the hundreds on display throughout February at Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall as part of the Central and Southern Indiana Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Three levels of award winners — Gold Key, Silver Key and honorable mention recipients — were recognized at an awards ceremony Feb. 28.
“After reviewing more than 3,000 works of art, this is the culminating ceremony and celebration to honor our creative artists and writers,” Donna Rund, Interim Education Manager at Clowes Memorial Hall, said. “We are very excited to see these students in attendance, along with their parents, teachers and peers to honor their accomplishments.”
Of the region’s 176 total Gold Keys — the highest level of achievement — awarded, more than 50 were to Fishers and Geist area high school and junior high students. Gold Key art is determined by criteria of originality, technical skill and personal vision or voice and is forwarded on to New York City for the Scholastic Art & Writing national awards. National Medal winners will be announced March 14.
“Honorable mentions are given to those demonstrating creative potential, Silver Key awards are given to those who are most distinguished and Gold Key awards are given to those most accomplished in their work,” Rund said.
Gold Key and Silver Key art, which included approximately 430 total works, was displayed for the public at Clowes Memorial Hall from Feb. 3 through Feb. 28. All Scholastic Art & Writing Awards entries, of which the region received more than 3,000 of this year, were adjudicated by three-judge panels with approximately 50 professional artists and writers comprising the panels.
“It’s really wonderful for the kids,” Hamilton Southeastern High School art teacher Angela Fritz said. “It’s a testament to how hard they work all year and where they’re going and their focus and their drive. It’s really a wonderful opportunity for them to get out in a public way and in a national way for some of them.”
Fritz had some of her work displayed at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards exhibition when she was a high school student and appreciates the history of the program, which has famous alumni including Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Robert Redford, John Lithgow and Ken Burns, among others.
“This has been going on since the ’20s, it has a longstanding history,” Fritz said. “Truman Capote, Ken Burns — all kinds of really public and famous artists have won in the past … This is something that has a great regional history here in this state, too, and it’s just a great opportunity for the kids here and at the national level. It’s really wonderful.”
For more, visit artandwriting.org.
| 2016 GOLD KEY RECIPIENTS | ||
| Name | Category | Title |
| HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN HIGH SCHOOL | ||
| Chase Cannon | Drawing/Illustration | I Cried That Night |
| Chase Cannon | Painting | Innocence Observing Evil |
| Chase Cannon | Painting | She Thought She Looked Fat |
| Kasey Coverdale | Drawing/Illustration | Free Spirit |
| Courtney Dallas | Ceramics/Glass | Torso |
| Emma Dewey | Sculpture | Framework |
| Emma Dewey | Jewelry | Malevolent |
| Emma Dewey | Sculpture | Wrapped |
| Mikaela Hartman | Jewelry | Balance |
| Jordan Haworth-Zermeno | Mixed Media | Are You in There? |
| Jordan Haworth-Zermeno | Painting | Belly |
| Sally Johnson | Ceramics/Glass | Hollow Ghost |
| Katherine Lucas | Photography | Swing Shadow |
| Natalie McDaniel | Jewelry | Bartholemew |
| Kathryn Meyers | Jewelry | Pendant |
| Kathryn Meyers | Jewelry | Reliquary |
| Madison Park | Drawing/Illustration | Got the Time? |
| Rachel Phillips | Drawing/Illustration | Push Me, Pull Me |
| Sophia Silcox | Digital Art | Sunken Studddder |
| Molly Simmons | Film/Animation | Masha’Allah |
| Makenna Sisemore | Photography | Clinging to Life |
| Lauren Wallace | Ceramics/Glass | Drip Drop Pot |
| Lauren Wallace | Ceramics/Glass | Horse Hair #1 |
| Jamie Wiederholt | Ceramics/Glass | Schizo |
| FISHERS HIGH SCHOOL | ||
| Alex Baumgartner | Drawing/Illustration | Barren Transitions |
| Alex Baumgartner | Drawing/Illustration | Becoming the Catalyst |
| Haili Brown | Drawing/Illustration | Self Reflection |
| Anna Dougherty | Photography | Whoosh |
| Sarah Dunlap | Photography | Consumer |
| Aaron Eads | Digital Art | Self-Potrait in Text |
| Emily Lindbloom | Painting | Ocean, Embracing |
| LAWRENCE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL | ||
| Kayley Hodson | Mixed Media | Iridescent Luxary |
| Taylor Tocci | Mixed Media | Hand Made Paper |
| Taylor Tocci | Mixed Media | Steer Head on Cardboard |
| HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN JUNIOR HIGH | ||
| Bri Baehl | Photography | St. Peter’s Basillica |
| Kenzington Baxter | Mixed Media | Red Words |
| Kenzington Baxter | Photography | Time Frozen Through a Lense |
| Anthony Blinco | Photography | Tennis Shoes |
| Lauren Jaynes | Mixed Media | Walking Jars |
| Sophia Kegley | Drawing/Illustration | Self-Reflection |
| Ella Liner | Photography | Nature of the Eye! |
| Monica Stuffle | Ceramics/Glass | Manos de una Flor y Agricultor |
| Fiona Whaley | Painting | Fiona |
| FISHERS JUNIOR HIGH | ||
| Lake Barnett | Drawing/Illustration | Noir |
| Lake Barnett | Design | X |
| Sarah Cecil | Printmaking | Trilogy |
| Rose Duffy | Design | Red |
| Harleen Kaur | Design | Alone |
| Matt Thompson | Printmaking | I’m Thinking |
| Arianna Wityshyn | Mixed Media | Untitled |
| RIVERSIDE JUNIOR HIGH | ||
| Kylie Terpening | Photography | Up |
