The Visual Arts Program at Heritage Academy Laveen is constantly striving to allow scholars to show their work in the community. The first opportunity this year was the Arizona State Fair. Ms. Kuecker opened up the challenge to all advanced art scholars. Each scholar was given the criteria and asked to submit at least one piece for consideration. And boy! did the scholars take on the challenge.
The process to show work was not easy. Each scholar had to submit a digital image of their work in the first round of the jury show. After this round, scholars were accepted to show their work with the possibility of winning ribbons along with financial awards. Through the process, scholars learned how hard it is to be part of a juried show but all the scholars that submitted their work got accepted.
The scholars learned that sometimes you have to create artwork that is not always in a style you prefer to work in. They learned about how to submit work digitally and how to prepare it for presentation in the show. One of the hardest aspects of showing work is coming up with a title and an artist bio. Ms. Kuecker works with all art scholars, but it is more important when you are entering a show. The decision to sell work and put a price on scholar’s work was also a challenge. In the end, seven scholars had their piece accepted into the show with one or more pieces.
Two scholars were accepted into the photography contest: Gaby Gray with The Cactus And The Sky and Karina De Loera with The Lonely Tree. Five scholars were accepted into the fine arts category. Danzi Stevens had two pieces called The Patriot and Desert Flower. Alice Trout entered one piece called Lowrider. Karen Diaz entered three pieces; Dear Frida, Its Raining, and How Stars Move. Fernanda Rodriguez entered five pieces called Everything is a Game, A Thought Thrown Into Space, Renegade, and For You. Amanda Velazquez entered Mandcasso and It’s a Deer Yo. Amanda received an honorable mention ribbon for Mandcasso.
Please congratulate these scholars on their hard work when you see them!
{Post submission by Sherri Kuecker – Art Teacher at Heritage Academy Laveen}