Last week, senior Ashna Reddy’s sculpture, “Soaked,” was awarded first prize in the sculpture category in New Museum Los Gatos’ 2020 ArtNow exhibition. The piece, an umbrella constructed from mesh, “explores the idea of uselessness, missing that which makes one whole,” Reddy wrote in her comments on the work. She was inspired to create the sculpture after witnessing the various ways in which the Earth’s “wholeness” has been depleted through human activity such as pollution and deforestation.
April 16, 2020
In March, pieces by senior Ashna Reddy and juniors Elliot Kampmeier and Maria Teplova were selected for the 2020 ArtNow exhibition by New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU). This annual juried exhibition highlights the top high school talent from Silicon Valley. The 76 entries in the exhibition were picked from more than 900 entries. The art for the exhibition was installed just before the museum closed in March due to California’s ongoing mandatory shelter-in-place. In lieu of a live reception, NUMU created a virtual tour to showcase this year’s exhibition. Each year’s ArtNow follows a different theme, and this year’s student submissions used water as the theme for their work. Pieces are evaluated and selected by a jury of university-level instructors. Prizes and scholarships totaling $10,000 are also awarded during the program.
On Friday, 10 lower school students were featured at the California Kindergarten Association’s Young Children’s Art Exhibit, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Santa Clara. First graders Brayden Ching, Violet Santana, Jane Tang, Ethan Wang, Angela Zhang and Emily Zhao, and kindergartners Serena Du, Caroline Liu, Khushi Monga and Katy Wang had artwork on display at the event, which has showcased the works of Pre-K, kindergarten and grade 1 students since 1989.
Numerous middle school students were recently recognized in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Each year the contest, which began in 1923, presents regional and national awards to students in grades 7 to 12 in a variety of literary and artistic categories. All students recognized will have their work showcased at local events, and Gold Key recipients will have their work evaluated to determine who will be named national medalists and honored at a special ceremony in New York City.
Students who received recognition in literary categories are:
Brian Chen, grade 7: Honorable mention (poetry)
Catherine He, grade 8: Honorable mention (personal essay and memoir)
In late January, 63 upper school students received recognition in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Since 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have recognized the work of middle and high school students in the visual and literary arts. Past awardees include Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath and Topaz Winters.
Students who received Gold Keys, Silver Keys and honorable mentions will have their work featured at local events. A panel of luminaries will judge the work of Gold Key winners to determine who will receive national medals and travel to New York City for the National Ceremony.
This year’s awardees for literature are:
Emily Chen, grade 12: Three Gold Keys (critical essay, poetry, writing portfolio), two Silver Keys (poetry, short story), three honorable mentions (poetry)
Gwyneth Chen, grade 12: Silver Key (personal essay and memoir)
Aditi Ghalsasi, grade 10: Honorable mention (personal essay and memoir)
Sophia Gottfried, grade 9: Silver Key (poetry)
Rose Guan, grade 11: Silver Key (journalism)
Ellen Guo, grade 10: Gold Key (critical essay)
Aarzu Gupta, grade 10: Two honorable mentions (poetry, personal essay and memoir)
Mahika Halepete, grade 10: Two honorable mentions (journalism)
Jacqueline He, grade 12: Two Gold Keys (poetry, writing portfolio), two Silver Keys (poetry), four honorable mentions (poetry, science fiction and fantasy, two in short story)
Larissa Tyagi, grade 10: Gold Key (personal essay and memoir)
Joshua Valluru, grade 10: Gold Key (critical essay), Silver Key (critical essay) and honorable mention (personal essay and memoir)
Liana Wang, grade 12: Silver Key (poetry)
Shania Wang, grade 11: Silver Key (personal essay and memoir)
Kelsey Wu, grade 11: Two Silver Keys (critical essay)
Helen Yang, grade 11: Two Silver Keys (flash fiction)
Alexander Young, grade 11: Two honorable mentions (poetry)
Katherine Zhang, grade 11: Two Gold Keys (journalism), three Silver Keys (journalism) and three honorable mentions (flash fiction, journalism, and short story)
Tiffany Zhao, grade 11: Silver Key (personal essay and memoir) and honorable mention (critical essay)
Awardees in visual arts are:
Raymond Banke, grade 11: Two Gold Keys (design and mixed media), Silver Key (design), four honorable mentions (design, drawing and illustration and two for painting)
Anoushka Buch, grade 9: Three honorable mentions (drawing and illustration, digital art and photography)
Cynthia Chen, grade 10: Gold Key (photography), two Silver Keys (drawing and illustration, and photograph), two honorable mentions (printmaking and drawing and illustration)
Katrina Liou, grade 11: Silver Key (drawing and illustration), four honorable mentions (two for mixed media, two for drawing and illustration and one for editorial cartoon)
Raveena Panja, grade 12: Honorable mention (drawing and illustration)
Rani Sheth, grade 10: Honorable mention (drawing and illustration)
Catherine Wang, grade 11: Gold Key (drawing and illustration), two Silver Keys (drawing and illustration)
Elizabeth Yang, grade 11: Gold Key (painting)
Emma Yu, grade 12: Honorable mention (art portfolio)
Anna Wang, grade 11: one Gold Key (painting), two Silver Keys (design and painting), two honorable mentions (drawing and illustration)
Joshua Zhou, grade 10: Three honorable mentions (photography)
Last week, grade 1 students visited the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University for an up-close look at works from various periods. Auguste Rodin’s famous sculpture “The Thinker” was a favorite of the students, who tried to imitate the sculpture’s pose and “discovered how awkward the pose actually is!” reported teacher Cindy Proctor.
Elsewhere, students engaged in an activity in which they studied two paintings to gather information on each of them. “One of the paintings was of the Stanford family,” Proctor said. “The children looked closely and were able to tell the docent quite a bit about the family based on the painting.” After examining another painting, the students constructed a story about a daring river rescue.
Other highlights included spotting geometric patterns in a mural and perusing the museum’s renowned collection of Rodin sculptures, one of the largest in the world.