Throughout first semester and the beginning of second, art students have constructed and created art work and eventually submitted their work to be reviewed by the Scholastic Art and Writing Award jurors.
The Scholastic Art Awards honor artistic students grades seven through 12 who represent a creative spirit via personally created content. For the chance to earn an award, students must submit digital images of their artwork from the past year, which is then judged by 50 local art and education community jurors. The submitted artwork is evaluated by originality, technical skill and emergence of a personal voice of vision.
“It’s a very prestigious award that truly honors kids,” art teacher Tricia Erickson said. “It’s competitive, so when you win [an award], you definitely have earned it.”
After the jurors have ranked all of the submissions, artists can earn a Gold Key award, a Silver Key award or an Honorable Mention. After the awards have been given out, Gold Key winners are judged in a second round to win at the national level.
12 students earned Honorable Mentions for their submission, including 19 pieces of artwork.
“Road Under Construction,” Photography submission by Senior Evan Arnold. 
“5 Points of Perspective” Drawing by Junior Joe Bauer. 
“Mother Clucker,” Drawing by Junior Joe Bauer. 
“Haze,” Photography piece by Senior Caden Burton. 
“Neon Evening,” Photography piece by Senior Caden Burton. 
“Holding Love,” Painting by Senior Kennedy Donalson. 
“Mental Madness,” Photography piece by Junior Tiernan Doran-Fisher. 
“Mental Madness,” Photography piece by Junior Tiernan Doran-Fisher. 
“Higher Way – Still Picture #5,” Photography piece by Senior Miguel Hernandez. 
“Higher Way,” Photography piece by Senior Miguel Hernandez. 
“A Little Smaller Than You Think,” Photography piece by Senior Miguel Hernandez. 
“Alligator,” Drawing by Senior Tessa Michewicz. 
“Red Vision,” Drawing by Senior Sophie Nyquist. 
“Manga,” Drawing by Senior Sophie Nyquist. 
“Out of View,” Drawing by Senior Aubrey Rosloniec. 
“A Tear of Self,” Drawing by Senior Aubrey Rosloniec. 
“Eisoptrophobia” Drawing by Senior Aubrey Rosloniec. 
“Coulrophobia,” Drawing by Junior Faith VandenBerg. 
“George,” Drawing by Senior Selah Wells. 
“Envy Bites,” Drawing by Sophomore Madelyn Zimmer.
Five students earned a Silver Key for their artwork. Seven pieces earned the award.
“Predatory,” Comic by Senior Kennedy Donalson. 
“Higher Way – Still Picture #2,” Photography piece by Senior Miguel Hernandez. 
“Butterfly,” Drawing by Senior Sophie Nyquist. 
“Morning Sky,” Photography piece by Sophomore Rion Rader. 
“Shot,” Photography piece by Sophomore Rion Rader. 
“Angry Orchard,” Mixed media piece by Senior Selah Wells. 
“Midnight Zone,” Drawing by Selah Wells.
Four artists achieved a Gold Key award for their artwork and will be eligible for consideration at the national level awards.
All Gold Key winning pieces will be sent to be judged at the National Adjudication in New York City. The National Adjudication opens up the possibility for artists to win a National Gold Key award, a Silver Medal or a Silver Medal with distinction, along with the probability of earning multiple scholarships.
“Over the years we’ve had 5 national winners,” Erickson said. “As of right now we have four really talented Gold Key award winner students.”
National winners will be officially announced to the public in March and will be recognized at the awards ceremony held at the Carnegie Hall in New York City. Award recipients will have their work shown in noted galleries, have the opportunity to attend workshops, be considered to earn multiple scholarships and have their names incorporated into the New York Times article covering the Scholastic Art Awards.
Senior Caden Burton won a Gold Key award for his photography piece, “Motion.” This was a project that focused on the ability to work with moving light to represent the motion of a swing set.
“One day in the summer, I just decided to drag [senior] Andon [Duckworth] down to Northville Park, and at like 11 pm, we took photos of us swinging on the swing set,” Burton said. “I took 14 photos and got about two I liked.”
The spontaneous idea led him to win the Gold Key award and is ultimately the push for Burton’s next step in his career. Burton plans to major in Photography and has received scholarships to the College of Creative Studies in Detroit.
“I hope it leads to more [opportunities] with college and furthers my photography career,” Burton said.
Senior Miguel Hernandez received a Gold Key award for his photography piece, “A little smaller than you think.” This project was focused on Hernandez’s Advanced Placement (AP) Art essential question, “When are we supposed to know that we have already overcome our fears?”
“In some way, I wanted to represent this process where someone faces fear directly and how sometimes we don’t achieve our fear, and we feel humiliated,” Hernandez said.
Originally, Hernandez captured the picture in a series of senior pictures with one of the models shown above over the summer. He then used the frames for an AP Art project and later submitted the piece, along with a few others, for a Scholastic Art Award.
“So I started looking at videos and focusing a lot on the essential question that I had,” Hernandez said. “I also did some sketches and wrote some notes about what I actually wanted to make people feel.”
After submitting the piece to the Scholastic Art Awards, Hernandez was taken by surprise to receive an award for this creation.
“I feel very proud that this is my second year at Northview, and I already have won something,” Hernandez said. “It feels very nice.”
Hernandez earned a scholarship due to his Gold Key award and will continue his career in film production at Grand Valley State University.
“I love the idea that after a year or two, I’ll have the opportunity to move to another state or country to pursue my career,” Hernandez said.
“Lack of integrity,” a drawing by senior Aubrey Rosloniec, was also acknowledged with a Gold Key award. The piece was an outcome of the AP Art based project, the increment project. The increment project challenges artists to take something they believe is cliche and apply various techniques, such as duplication or dissolving.
Additionally, “Lack of Integrity” was used for Rosloniec’s revision project. The AP revision project allows artists to take one of their designs and make changes and adjustments to increase the end result of the piece.
“As I was working on it, I had heard a little about people who felt disconnected from their bodies, which is also known as body disconnection,” Rosloniec said. “That’s why I named it lack of integrity, because she has no integrity in her face.”
The 10 hour creation process earned Rosloniec the award, which provides her with a nonrenewable $86,000 scholarship for her future career at the College for Creative Studies.
“I’m really happy,” Rosloniec said. “I’m excited to see how far it goes into the national.”
“Beauty flourishes,” a digital art creation by senior Anna Smith, also earned a Gold Key award. The piece was based on AP Art’s memory project, which allows artists to provide young kids with a self-portrait that represents who they are and what viewers can remember about them.
Smith was assigned a young girl named Aisha, who was born an orphan and is a refugee, in Nigeria. Smith created her piece around the young girl’s nationality and beauty. Smith additionally incorporated Aisha’s favorite color, yellow, and the national flower of Nigeria, the Costus spectabilis.
“I paid attention to her culture and where she comes from,” Smith said. “I ended up creating this beautiful scenery around her to show that she’s a part of that, and she doesn’t need to be ashamed of it.”
Before starting the piece, Smith chose to research about Aisha’s nationality to gain more knowledge to be able to construct a meaningful design. Smith’s piece took approximately six to 10 hours to complete.
“I researched a lot of what was going on in Nigeria, the political aspects and why many of these children have been homeless and orphans in the first place,” Smith said. “Afterwards, I did the research on the flowers and the fruits and everything that is popular there.”
Smith is ultimately surprised by her achievement and is enthusiastic about competing at the national level.
Smith will continue her education at Grand Rapids Community College.
All regional level winners, including those outside of the district, will be showcased at the Fountain Street Church at 3 pm on March 4.
The online exhibition will be live for viewing on February 10.
