Five North students participated in the Lewis University high school invitational art competition held in the Wadsworth Family Gallery from Jan. 9-19. 

This marks the 6th anniversary of the show which  gives students an opportunity to display their artistic creations in a variety of media. The closing reception and awards presentation took place on Jan. 19.

Junior Hannah Belofsky won honorable mention for her entry .

“My inspiration for this piece came from the prompt [art teacher] Mr. Quimby gave us,” Belofsky said. “Our assignment was to make a watercolor painting that related to the theme of man vs. nature. My painting is inspired by Mother Nature.”

Though Belofsky has participated in many art shows previous to this one, this particular show presented with her first award. 

“I have entered the Chicago 4×5 Exhibition, the Southwest Suburban Prairie Art Competition, and some school art competitions, but this is my first time winning an award,” Belofsky said. “ I feel very grateful to get an honorable mention and to have my art in a gallery for others to interpret. I hope to enter more art competitions soon.”

Quimby thinks that the abstractness and unique creativity led her to this accomplishment. With missing beginning art skills due to Covid, Belofsky’s natural skill helped her pick up abstract techniques. 

“This artwork she had done for that piece, she had a really, really strong portrait but she didn’t know what to do with the negative space,” Quimby said. “Instead of the background having to be something like a forest or a mountain range or a sky, or a sunset she just used a lot of lines, and the same colors she used in the girls dress to create this really cool moving pattern that unified the whole piece.”

Senior David Joyce went a different route and entered his final exam assignment that incorporated the utilization of unexpected art tools. Joyce used black and white acrylic paint to recreate a photo of his father.

“The painting was a part of a project in which we couldn’t use any paint brushes, so I used a palette knife for the background, a toothbrush for large areas such as the forehead and jaw, and a Proxabrush for finer details, Joyce said. “I used the colors and composition to help convey a feeling of sadness or disappointment.”

Senior Abby Davis entered a pottery piece titled, “Melting Tea Party.” The fragile looking floral teapot melted into a puddle.

“The piece was made to show that beauty is short- lived, never permanent,” Davis said. “It’s almost as if the most serene aspects of society are usually fleeting.”

Arts shows give North art students a chance to show off their work in real- world spaces with students from other schools. In turn, confidence and creativity is built with the chance to compete and display. 

“Once you get the work outside the building and they get the chance to put it into a professional galleries like those college ones that we go to that are really really nice spaces and parents and people from North get to get the chance to come and look at your work and comment on it, it’s a high,” Quimby said. “And that sense of pride and all those things I’m hoping carries them forward into the next art project in the art room or even farther than that. 

Not only does the show allow the students to learn valuable lessons, it gives them the chance to use their love of art to connect with others.

“The best part of the show is the community of people there,” Davis said. “Your community is very welcoming and inviting, so it’s almost like a safe haven.