Student artwork shines in Juried Arts Exhibition
March 8, 2021
This year’s annual Juried Arts Exhibition took place Friday, February 26, featuring juror Melissa Harshman, a professor at the Dodd School of Art at UGA. The online show showcased 136 submitted pieces by St. Pius X student artists from all grades in a variety of categories, such as mixed media, photography, sculpture, drawing, painting, and printmaking.
Students who submitted did not have to be in any St. Pius art classes, and many different media, from digital art to sculpture, were accepted.
Senior Giana Zimmerman has been deeply involved in art for several years, and her work has won awards at previous exhibitions, including the Charleen Klister Award Catholic Social Teaching, honorable mentions for an architectural model and painting, third place for printmaking and second place for drawing in previous Juried Arts. Stitched Together, along with other pieces, were entered in her third year submitting to the exhibition.
“One of the pieces I submitted, Stitched Together, was inspired by my heritage. I’m half white and half Chinese, and I have some Brazilian culture as well,” Zimmerman said. “I wanted to positively represent my non-universal experiences of not quite fitting into an entirely American, Chinese, or Brazilian culture, but somewhere in between.”
While Zimmerman is currently taking AP Art, many other students who entered were not in art classes at St. Pius, like junior Caitlin Noble. Noble submitted two photos from her trip last year, Rosa e Fuego and Holding Onto Life. She is optimistic her nature pieces will win an award, but acknowledges the talent surrounding her.
“There are a lot of really good photographers here, [and] I’ve never submitted a piece before,” Noble said. “But I hope my tree picture will win because it’s really unique.”
Noble did not win an award this year, but is not disheartened to continue her photography.
An important aspect of the Juried Arts Exhibition is the wide variety of media types accepted. One of the more unique categories is printmaking, which involves transferring images to a paper using premade templates. Freshman Isabelle Darling entered her print “Gaze of the Leopard” that she made in her Survey of the Visual Arts class last semester, and it won first place in its category.
“I chose this print because it was the artwork I was most proud of,” Darling said. “I spent a lot of time on it and it was difficult to create.”
Another interesting category featured in the exhibition is sculpture. Junior Ann Marie Rakoski said her experience in sculpture class made it possible for her to express herself in an uncommon way.
“[My piece] was really fun to make and it took a while,” Rakoski said. “But I’m proud of how it came out.”
Junior Kate Richardson has been involved in a variety of St. Pius art contests and showcases throughout high school. Her art has been featured on the St. Pius Christmas card as well as this past year’s homecoming t-shirt. She entered pieces in the painting and drawing categories.
“They were my best technically,” Richardson said. “I don’t take any classes outside of Pius, but I do a lot of my own projects.”
Richardson has the most hope for her painting called “The Library,” which depicts a girl sitting on the floor of a library surrounded by stacks of books. It earned the President’s Award.
Also in the drawing category is junior Lucy Vrazel, whose drawing “HER” is a play on the clown from the hit horror movie IT.
“I submitted this piece to the Juried Arts Exhibition because I wanted to showcase my style of art,” Vrazel said. “I chose horror because it’s not something I have seen in the exhibition before.”
Congratulations to all of the talented St. Pius artists!
Winners:
Best in Show
1st Place: Giana Zimmerman ’21, “Loneliness”
2nd Place: Lucy Vrazel ’22, “Cubist Painting”
3rd Place: Madeline O’Neill ’21, “La Ballerine San Fin”
Honorable Mention: Amelia Klein ’22, “The Dancers at Cashell”
President’s Award
Katherine Richardson ’22, “The Library”
Principal’s Award
Aquinas Voss ’23, “Love Birds”
Drawing
1st Place: Kate Richardson ’22, “Hanging Sheets”
2nd Place: Aquinas Voss ’23, “Untitled”
3rd Place: Samantha Hefner ’23, “Boxes”
Painting
1st Place: Sarah Rakoski ’22, “Intersection”
2nd Place: Victoria Celedon-Garcia ’22, “Veritas”
3rd Place: Sophia Ripoll ’21, “Midday Mountains”
Printmaking
1st Place: Isabelle Darling ’24, “Gaze of the Leopard”
2nd Place: Sebastian Gomez ’24, “Parrot”
3rd Place: Jules Schmidt ’23, “Chameleon”
Photography
1st Place: Gerard Hudson ’21, “Lightning”
2nd Place: Mary Claire Morrison ’23, “The Window”
3rd Place: Gaby Morales ’21, “Boriquen”
2-D Design
1st Place: Ashley Tootle ’21, “Back to Your Roots”
2nd Place: Norah Philipp ’22, “Realtor’s Choice”
3rd Place: Sutton Nelson ’21, “Savior Complex”
Mixed Media
1st Place: Giana Zimmerman ’21, “Tired of Waiting”
2nd Place: Madeline O’Neill ’21, “In Unison”
3rd Place: Sarah Rakoski ’22, “Self-Portrait”
Sculpture and Ceramics
1st Place: Eric Hoang ’22, “Owl Clock”
2nd Place: Mia Massey ’23, “AirPod Earrings”
3rd Place: Natalie Hungeling ’23, “Spray Bottle House”
