Student art spotlighted
Flower Mound teen takes best of show
09:40 AM CST on Sunday, December 14, 2003
By Lucinda Breeding / Arts & Entertainment Editor
Jessica Cook - Flower Mound HS
Best of Show
Twelve area high schools took part in the annual high school art contest held by the Visual Arts Society of Texas, formerly the North Texas Area Art League.
Denton County art teachers said the annual show is important to their students’ development, as well as a deserved nod to the students studying visual art in area schools.
Nancy LeMay, Marcus High School art teacher, said her students have been involved in the show for about eight years. She makes it a point to participate, she said.
"They are able to see what students at other schools are doing," LeMay said. "Of course, the feeling that these students get when they win awards does a lot for their self-esteem."
The Denton-based art society has been inviting county high schools to bring two artists to the event, bringing one work of art apiece with them for members to vote on for final prizes.
This year, a Flower Mound High School junior Jessica Cook took best of show for her 3-by-5-foot pastel, a boldly rendered depiction of a classmate trapped in a cardboard box. Susan Pourrezai, an Aubrey High School student, took first place for her self-portrait. Marcus senior Ashley Williamson won second place for her untitled ink drawing with a brush. Hebron High School student Sara Roberts took third place for "Profile of an Escape," done in watercolor and ink.
The contest was Dec. 4 at Denton’s Center for the Visual Arts. The winners saw their art displayed for about five days at TexasBank in Denton. Ingrid Scobie, the executive director of the arts society, said the short exhibit at the bank was a step forward for the contest.
"First of all, part of our mission is to raise the consciousness of art around here," Scobie said. "It’s increasingly clear to me that what happens on the high school level is critical if these students want to go on to art school. It’s somewhat unfortunate that this [high school exhibit] is so competitive, but it does represent challenges they would encounter professionally. It wasn’t juried, but the criteria the members were asked to use were very much the same as that which a juror would use."
Previous contests could only have art displayed for a few hours in the Center for the Visual Arts, where the art society meets for monthly meetings. This year marks the first time winners have had their work exhibited.
Art teachers said their students get a legitimate art education at county high schools. They learn how to make slides of their art, something professional and nonprofessional artists have to do when entering juried exhibits that promise cash and reputation-bolstering accolades. Serious art students can get college credit for portfolios they prepare for advanced placement art classes.
The local event buttresses what happens in county classrooms, teachers said.
"It’s professional training," said Melinda Gaddie Marino, a Flower Mound High School art teacher. "It’s not juried; it’s voted on by the members. We’re all hoping this turns into a juried show. We all think that would increase the professional status of the show and it would be wonderful if we could eventually get something resembling a gallery show."
Winners of the show receive a monetary award and certificates to two local art supplies stores, Voertman’s and H.M.S Art. Cook earned $100 for best of show; Pourrezai earned $75 for first place; Williamson took a $50 award for second place and Roberts earned $25 for third place.
Williamson said this was her first time to compete in the art society’s show.
"My art teacher [LeMay] brought it up, and I like entering shows. It gets my art out there," she said. "It makes me think I have talent. It definitely helps your self-esteem."
Williamson said her piece was part of a classroom project to render a picture into the style of Monet. She took a magazine photo of a bulldog and rendered it in the Monet Impressionistic style, using texture and pattern, she said.
The experience has gotten Williamson thinking about entering the society’s juried show in the spring, she said.
Cook said she didn’t know what to expect from the competition.
"I thought a bunch of them were really, really awesome," Cook said of her competitors. "I wasn’t sure if I’d win anything, but I thought I could have a chance."
Cook said she’s made art all of her life, and has taken art courses in school when they were offered. Marino said Cook is a "gifted and talented" student who excels in a lot of different scholastic areas. Cook said a classroom project produced her award-winning piece that depicts a classmate of hers in a box with such vivid detail that it looks almost photographic. She said several students were interested in her piece, and that she put her all into it.
"I really enjoy it," she said of art in general. "I think it’s really fun and it’s really rewarding to do a drawing and it turns out really good."
People who know art would know that high school artists in the county are producing serious art, Marino said.
"Quite a number of students who graduate from Flower Mound are just as good or almost as good as university students, at least the students in their first years of college. If you know art, you don’t underestimate what these students are able to do."
Sharlotte Owens, the art specialist at Aubrey High School, said the annual competition is good preparation for the Visual Arts Scholastic Event, which has replaced University Interscholastic League art contests for many teachers.
"The more exposure kids can have to kids from other schools, the better. Anything they can gain is good for them," Owens said. "There was a wide variety of media there that night."
LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877.
Winners of Denton County High School Art Competition
Best of Show — Jessica Cook, Flower Mound High School, untitled pastel
First place — Susan Pourrezai, Aubrey High School, self-portrait
Second place — Ashley Williamson, Marcus High School, untitled ink drawing with brush
Third place — Sara Roberts, Hebron High School, "Profile of an Escape," watercolor and ink.
Other student exhibitors in the 2003 Denton County High School Art Competition
Ashley Bourque, Liberty Christian School
Ashley Bubak, Liberty Christian School
Jessica Wilson, Sanger High School
Kaci Enlow, Sanger High School
Ava Dunlap, Denton High School
Trey Wright, Denton High School
Eddie Howard, The Colony High School
McCall Clark, Argyle High School
Tam Dicesare, Argyle High School
Levi Hughes, Northwest High School
Ronnel Ocampo, Northwest High School
Mike Watson, Lake Dallas High School
Dishon Delmare, Lake Dallas High School
Lily Owens, Aubrey High School
John Flottman, Flower Mound High School
Katie Grider, Marcus High School
Amy Poirier, Lewisville High School
Lisa Harris, Lewisville High School
Trista Kessner, Lewisville High School North
Eliezer Marfileno, Lewisville High School North