Featured Student Artist: Brandon Miller

Brandon Miller is a first grader attending Stilson Elementary School in Georgia.  His art, “Dad Fishing“, was selected as a Top Ten Winner in the Summer 2012 national art contest.  This means that Brandon’s art was one of the ten best pieces submitted throughout the United States and Canada.

Brandon’s favorite art activities include drawing, making things out of clay, and stop motion animations with his Legos.  “Dad Fishing” was created with acrylic paints on canvas.  Brandon’s inspiration for this piece came from memories of his dad going fishing with his friend out in the river.  As with this winning piece, Brandon enjoys creating art from things he knows.

In the future, Brandon hopes to continue to grow his artistic talents and become a racecar driver or a police officer.

To learn more about our national art contests, please visit www.CelebratingArt.com.

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Great Artists Take Risks

Recently I attended an on stage interview of Nick Cave who is a performance artist that is the director of the graduate fashion program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Nick has traveled throughout the world showing his creations that mix art with performance.  There are many Youtube links to see the fantastic things he has done.  Take a look.  He is now world famous for his creations.  They are unique.  After the interview they opened up the audience to questions.  I asked Nick if there was any trepidation to his emerging with this new medium.  His reply was that for a while he created his art and they stayed in his apartment.  Then bit by bit he shared it with others and a new art form emerged for which he is famous. There was risk involved.

In thinking of the students who participate in our contests and the thousands of other artists or poets who don’t send in their work, I realize there is always a risk in sharing your work with others.  “What if they think my work isn’t good?”  “What if they laugh at me?”  Yes, there is always that possibility.  However, there is always the possibility of being accepted to be published and people thinking “Wow.  Their work is great.”  No risk…no gain.  Nick Cave could have hid his work in fear of what others would think.  Instead he shared it and is loved throughout the world.  I think all art has an element of risk.  Take a chance.  Share it with the world.

—Tom Worthen, Ph.D., Editor

To learn more about our national art contests, visit www.CelebratingArt.com.

To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

Featured Student Artist: Kayleigh Semeniuk

Art has always been a part of Kayleigh’s life.  At age three she was drawing circles instead of the squiggly lines more commonly seen in a young child’s artwork.  By the time she was eleven she was taking lessons with a fantastic realism artist, Tami Hort.  What she thought would be one year of lessons turned into four years of one-on-one teaching as Tami guided her through many different forms of art; including acrylics, oils, watercolors, and pastels, plus a rather unsuccessful but nevertheless entertaining attempt at clay sculpture.

Kayleigh took home her first award when she was only thirteen.  This award came from an international contest called the Calgary Stampede’s Western Showcase.  After this win, Kayleigh knew she could make it in the art world.  Art was no longer just a hobby.

After her family moved Kayleigh could no longer continue lessons with Tami, so Kayleigh set on a journey to discover a style of her own.  In recent years Kayleigh has come to realize her love for drawing the human face.  Actors, musicians, hockey players; Kayleigh thrives on the challenge of capturing a person’s likeness on paper.

One of Kayleigh’s most recent victories was being announced as a Top Ten Winner in the Summer 2012 national art contest.  Her piece, “Lost in a Senator’s Thoughts“, was chosen out of thousands of entries as one of the ten best in the United States and Canada.  Her inspiration for this piece came about by a friend.

“I had drawn Padmè Amidala from the movie Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones back in 2010, and while the finished drawing was ok, I knew I’d want to do another one in a few years.” Kayleigh explains, “So when my friend asked if could I draw Padmè for him, I took the chance to do another attempt at her, never thinking that it may end up being a winning piece. My friends and family inspire me to keep on drawing. Without them, like friends who request drawings, I’d have a hard time picking up a pencil and put as many hours as I do into my artwork.”

Kayleigh’s plans for the future include going to CATO (a digital arts school) where she wants to graduate with a graphic design degree, and combine digital art with traditional.  She also wants to eventually meet the band U2 and present the members with drawings.  Her most important goal is for her relationship with God to grow deeper, her walk with Him longer and stronger, and to paint things of the Kingdom.

To view Kayleigh’s website, visit http://artismygift.weebly.com/.To view Kayleigh’s Fine Art America page, visit here.

To learn more about our national art contests, go to www.CelebratingArt.com.