Senior Visual Arts
1st Place - Senior Visual Arts
Annalee Marling
Norfolk Academy
Betsy DiJulio
Antithesis
In my piece you see images of people from bottom to top, slowly standing up. The figure at the top is more defined with the stippling, and as the piece progresses downward, fewer dots are seen on the inside than outside. You can look at this piece from bottom to top or from top to bottom. Starting at the bottom, is a collection of stipples that start to form the first figure in a curled up position. Moving up they become more defined and they start to stand up and become more confident. How changing one's behavior on the inside changes on the outside for the better. I represent this with the dots that diminish moving up. Looking at the piece from top to bottom shows a different perspective. In this, the figure is being weighed down by their actions and physically becomes emptier. Traveling all the way to the bottom section, lies all the excess dots that moved out of the person.
2nd Place - Senior Visual Arts
Colin Bridges
Frank W. Cox High School
Jessica van Veenhuyzen
MISHU
My piece is a drawing of a stuffed teddy bear belonging to Stella Knobel. She and her family escaped Krakow in 1939 and fled to the Soviet Union. They had to relocate to a Siberian work camp and then again to Teheran. They lost most of their possessions when they left their home, but she was able to save her stuffed bear, which she called “Mishu”. Stella eventually decided to donate her bear to the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Yad Vashem. The piece is done with colored pencil and pen for the newspapers in the background. The newspapers were made from a combination of real articles and other research relating to the Holocaust. My piece symbolizes a beacon of hope when all else in the world seems lost.
3rd Place - Senior Visual Arts
Lucia Klinkhammer
Frank W. Cox High School
Jessica van Veenhuyzen
America the Prosperous
Nelson Mandela once said. “Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.” I’ve never understood why, on a personal level, our approach to homelessness is a mixture of blaming victims and holding our heads high to avoid even glancing at them. Those of us who consider ourselves “caring people” might, on occasion, roll our window down to hand a human being an old, crusty granola bar found in the deepest place of our cars, or a few quarters we got as change for the fragrant meals we have purchased. Now these people truly live up to the ideals of our time. We ignore those who make us uncomfortable. We need to start to embrace discomfort, because nothing will be done about the issues we face until we all learn to live in discomfort. Be that person who stops. Be the one who smiles, who sits with the homeless. Be that person who gives what you have, however small it may be. Don’t ever forget that they are someone’s sister, brother, daughter, son, mother, or father, but they are also deserving in their own right because they are just as human as you and deserve the same decency you afford to your own family. America can never be prosperous until those who don’t have a home matter as much as everyone else. America cannot live in a gilded state. We cannot show off the sheer layer of wealth and grace and ignore our homeless.
Honorable Mention - Senior Visual Arts
Carter Owens
Frank W. Cox High School
Jessica van Veenhuyzen
Anne Frank's Inspiration
My Art piece is inspired by Anne Frank and the impact she made on the world and most importantly to my generation itself. Anne was 15 years old when she started writing her diary in hiding and her talent really shined through in her writing. Not only was she talented, she was also brave and positive. She went through a very traumatic time being a victim of the Holocaust and she still had hope and kindess in her heart. The quote, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart,” I chose from her diary to portray in my art, shows her personality through her words. I wanted to include her diary by putting pieces of the pages around the border. The butterflies are symbolism to tribute to the lives lost as victims of the Holocaust. Anne Frank was a sweet, innocent girl who deserved so much better, but during that time she grew strong and independent. She became one of the youngest inspirational idols to this day. I hope this piece does a good job representing her, I enjoyed making it!
Honorable Mention - Senior Visual Arts
Amber Wang
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
The innocent in war
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.” - Elie Wiesel
This artwork shows how people suffered during wartime. During the war, people had a lot of suffering. Some people's families were destroyed because of the war, some people's children and parents died because of the war. In this painting, the woman's husband is a soldier, and this soldier lost an arm because of the war. However, he and the woman's baby has just been born and he will never be able to hold their baby. The reason for this painting is that I want people to see the suffering and humiliation that humans endure all the time. In my opinion, sometimes we must interfere.
Chairs' Choice - Senior Visual Arts
Lily Brown
Hickory High School
Amanda Battle
A Day of Despair
The event that took place on September 11th, 2001 is one of the most traumatic examples of man’s inhumanity towards fellow man. As an artist I wanted to visually represent the great despair that was felt by many due to the actions of few. I chose to do my piece in grayscale as I felt it fit the mood well. I incorporated Robert Burns' quote “Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn” because of the message it conveys and the way it applies to this historical moment.
Chairs’ Choice - Senior Visual Arts
Helene Schulwolf
Norfolk Academy
Betsy Dijulio
Wailing Wall
The Orthodox man, praying at the Western Wall, represents the “devout Jew.” In the face of adversity, he turns to prayer for solace. Jews look to G-d for strength and guidance. Likewise, I follow Jewish principles in my everyday life to combat the hardships of special needs individuals. I have spent the last four years working with Camp GonnaWannaGoAgain for those with autism and Special Olympics of Tidewater for all special needs people. My commitment to community service has influenced my career choice to become a speech pathologist to give a voice to those without one. I have witnessed the power of my faith and appreciation for all forms of life by serving others. I embody the spirit of Tikkun Olam by repairing the world one act of kindness at a time. I hope my artwork will inspire others to look inward and then reach outward with faith and principle.
1st Place - Junior Visual Arts
Olivia Spangler
The Williams School
Amy Lindgren
Beneficial Change
My visual arts piece is based on “one person of integrity can make a difference.” I was inspired by the actions of Jewish partisans for this statement. The women represent the fighters who decided to do something and the ripped up newspapers are from articles where there were rebellions. During the Holocaust, some people who were admitted into Jewish ghettos or concentration camps figured out ways to escape. Most of the people that were liberated joined small, unofficial military groups where they would help fight against the Nazis in World War II. These brave people were not only able to stand up against the Nazis but fight against them and help make a change. Throughout history, lots of people have been bystanders and didn’t have the courage to try to make a difference. Anybody can make an important contribution to making a change and have a beneficial impact on society.
2nd Place - Junior Visual Arts
Scarlett Rainaldi
Hickory Middle School
Roxy Dekker
Helping Them
My art piece represents helping the hungry and the homeless, by reaching out and sharing. There are people out there that need our help to survive the day, but we often ignore them. We keep going forward, assuming someone else will help. My art shows me helping someone laying on the road, handing them a bag of food. When people see my art, I want them to think about how easy it is to grab an extra sandwich to share.
3rd Place - Junior Visual Arts
Lucia Rainaldi
Hickory Middle School
Roxy Dekker
Unlocking the Chains
When planning my art, I thought deeply about tragic moments in history and in current events, and what shook me most was the amount of bondage people suffered through and the lack of freedom some still struggle with today. Even so, even more terrible things are happening today; dictatorship, sex trafficking, domestic abuse, and religious discrimination. These are horrifying practices that people are still tormented by today, leaving them mentally, physically and emotionally bound in chains, as I represented in my art. The key in my picture is in my hand, and it represents my hope to one day help those in pain, to break those bonds of torture and set them free.
Honorable Mention - Junior Visual Arts
Charlotte Duke
Hickory Day School
Bryan Croymans
Death of the Towers
I chose activity three because I feel that there are a lot of terrible interactions in our history. I was not alive during 9-11, but when I learned about it in school my immediate reaction was to find a way to “undo” it, but, of course, that is impossible. In my piece I display my reaction to 9-11 and the events quickly following soon after, in the duration of that day. I, the girl, am holding the building and lifting it back into its spot.
Honorable Mention - Junior Visual Arts
Aiden Hill
The Williams School
Elizabeth Duke
Towers Falling
9/11. This is the day the Twin Towers fell. This was an attack on humans by humans. I drew the Twin Towers smoking on a piece of glass and then shattered it. The shattering of the glass is supposed to represent how so many people's worlds were shattered that day either directly or indirectly by loss of human life. The more literal interpretation of the shattered glass is how much destruction happened that day. That day and the days that followed created copious amounts of despair that swept the nation. Just like in the Holocaust, a person’s discord towards his fellow humans generated despair and anguish. The important thing to remember is that no matter how much despair is created by an event we must choose to be upstanders and intervene because if we stay silent then we will be an accomplice to the despair that is around us.
Chairs’ Choice - Junior Visual Arts
Caroline Scarabelli
Short Pump Middle School
Jaime Gonzalez
Praying for Freedom
A Southern slave praying for freedom. America has learned that slavery is wrong as of current day, but early in our history, many Americans thought slaves were not even human, rather equal to an animal. Many people may have not agreed with this notion, but they followed the majority. Slaves had inhumane living conditions, and treated even worse than animals. We have discovered in recent years about more and more atrocities that were made against African-Americans. America (and most of the world) has learned that slavery is inhumane, cruel, and downright disgusting. The people of this world still need to learn that all people are equal and should be treated as such.
