By Grace Kennedy, Opinions Editor
Three Herndon students have been honored with the 2022 Scholastic Art & Writing Fairfax Regional Award. Our Gold Key winners include senior Georgia Brown with her painting Nataliya, junior Shienka Martinez with her charcoal illustration, Fading, and senior Jill Schmid’s painting The Junk Drawer and sculpture Shadows. Each piece is being displayed at the Annandale NOVA campus, from February 11th until March 24th.
The official award recognition ceremony took place on Wednesday, February 23rd, where the artists came together to congratulate each other’s achievements. “Guests had time to walk around the gallery before the artists went on stage to say a brief description about themselves (name, school, and category they won in). It was a great way to see new things and meet some talented people,” Brown said.
Each artist had a different way of producing their work. Martinez explained that the piece she submitted was not what she had been planning. “Once it was the day of the deadline I realized I was not going to finish it in time, so I took a break and got frustrated. I started sketching whatever, and I got frustrated with that drawing so I started wiping it down…I just grabbed paper towels and did the whole thing.” Unlike the traditional way of blending charcoal with a tortillon (a blending tool), the paper towel acted as her personal twist and artistic flair.
Brown’s piece Nataliya was based on a live model session. The painting required a remarkable precision for each meticulous detail, especially for the shadows of the subject’s cheekbones. Brown believed that this was the most challenging aspect of the face, and forced her to add more paint to the area. This slowly damaged the canvas, but ultimately the piece was still intact. Brown also took it upon herself to add her own creative touch to the painting, such as the design of the subject’s hair, which was her favorite part of the entire process.
Brown plans to study at VCU in Richmond Virginia for the fall of 2022. Martinez predicts she will continue creating “a lot more chaos” and continuing to play around and “reflect more loose, creative” energy. Just like their pieces, these artists’ futures are looking bright, bold, and colorful.