Kitsap Award-Winning Art Students Rise to Meet Challenges During Covid-19
For Allison McMartin, the struggle was real.
Sick of the COVID-19 pandemic, sick of being stuck inside her house while others ignored rules about social gatherings, the 11th-grade student at Bremerton High School allowed her emotions to stir.
That's how McMartin's original piece of art "From the Inside Looking Out" came into existence. She used colored pencils and watercolor paint to tell her story: a blonde-haired girl, sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, the walls and roof of her scaled-down home bearing down on her.
"It was mostly out of frustration," McMartin said. "I was kind of upset. On social media, you see everybody still going out and celebrating stuff in giant groups. I've outgrown my house, that's why the figure is so big. I'm looking out at the world."
McMartin's work earned the People's Choice Award this spring at the Olympic Educational Service District's 2021 Art Show. The annual event brings in artwork by students from various high schools in West Sound and provides an entry point for a state-wide event: The Superintendent's High School Art Show, co-hosted by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Washington Art Education Association.
Bremerton High School recently celebrated the works of four students — McMartin, sophomores Sandra de Moura and Clover Navarro and senior Chloe Painter — whose submissions earned awards at the regional and/or state level. Janice Wagner, who oversees art for Bremerton School District's Career, Technical and STEM Education department, said the 2020-21 school year presented obvious challenges with teachers and students reduced to virtual instruction. Supplies were also limited.
"I couldn't send home 60 sets of acrylic paints and hundreds of brushes," Wagner said.
With students responsible for creating art outside of school, Wagner said those who rose to the challenge to create award-winning pieces should be celebrated.
"Young people who are good at something think that everybody is good at it," Wagner said. "I don't think they really realize they have something special. ... They have honed their skills with many hours of dedication and practice. They've gotten good, so they deserved to be honored and I'm very proud of them."
De Moura had two pieces — "Self Love" and "Hands" honored at the Olympic ESD show. "Self Love" also took top honors at the OSPI event and won first place at the 6th District Congressional art contest, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer. "Self Love" will be going on display at the U.S. Capitol later this year.
Drawn using graphite pencil, "Self Love" began as a self-portrait, de Moura said. She intended to add a sketch of a friend but reconsidered.
"Wow, what if I did two me's?" de Moura asked.
Navarro's work "A Pause" earned the Governor's Award at the OSPI art show. "A Pause" uses the combination of watercolor and gouache to make Navarro's scene of a couple looking through a library window stand out.
“I found this photograph and I thought it looked amazing," Navarro said. "It had an old couple in front and I decided to paint it, but with them being younger. That’s where a pause in time comes in. A pause, a moment.”
McMartin said she could commiserate when Navarro talked about trying to figure out submissions. It was only late in the process when she settled on "From the Inside Looking Out," which is being professionally framed and will go on display in the art gallery at the Olympic ESD building in Bremerton.
“I had a ton of ideas for this art show and I scrapped all of them," McMartin said.
Painter had two Olympic ESD pieces: "Dive" and "Second Dive." The first helped the senior earn a $2,000 scholarship award from Central Washington University.
In her Advanced Placement art class, Painter's teacher asked her to select a theme for her work. Painter's search led her to nature.
"I went out with my dad across the water and I watched the cormorants diving off a bridge," Painter said. "It really inspired me. I wanted to paint the feeling of it."
Joining Painter as $2,000 scholarship winners from Central Washington were Central Kitsap’s Angela Bai with “The Perfect Symphony,” Kingston’s Cassidy Flores with “Snow White,” North Kitsap’s Evan Cullum with “Flowers Forever,” South Kitsap’s Cloey Klingler with “Melancholia,” and North Mason’s Shelby Staley with “Side by Side.” Bai's work also earned honorable mention at the OSPI art show.
Wagner said while she might provide advice for art show submissions, students have the final call. She believes the contests give students a glimpse at the world waiting for them after graduation.
"Students have to meet deadlines, they have to photograph their work, they have to digitally size it, maybe do a light editing, come up with a title, write an artist statement," Wagner said. "These are life skills that will help them."
By: Jeff Graham
Source: Kitsap Sun