Photos submitted
April 10 brought an enthusiastic Lanesboro art team to Madison, Wis. to compete at the state of Wisconsin VAC (Visual Arts Classic). The theme for the event was movement – both actual and symbolic. In order to compete, the team first needed to score a team first place at regionals.
Art teacher Stena Lieb learned four years ago that as a registered member of the National Art Association, she was also a member of the Wisconsin Art Education Association and could enter her students in VAC. Lanesboro has had individual students go to state each year.
The team made a long trip to Superior, Wis., to compete in region competition there. Usually, Lanesboro attends regions in La Crosse, but a scheduling conflict with the Lanesboro senior class trip made it necessary to attend the regions at Superior, Wis., March 6 instead.
At regions, each of the 12 students submitted a long-term project they had created following a study of 11 artists and an art movement. Each selected a category from 12 different categories. There are a limited number of slots for each category; seniors received priority in choosing their categories.
Once they arrived at regions, each student was assigned a short-term project prompt. With a time limit of slightly over two hours, the students needed to work quickly to complete their piece and an artist’s comment.
A group critical thinking project at regions was to create an outfit for their coach in 45 minutes using paper, aluminum foil and tape. Another component of the competition was an art history knowledge bowl.
Initially, the Lanesboro team did not think they’d won regions, but an error was found in the scoring. Once the correction had been made, the team took first place at regions and was headed to state!
Coach Lieb pulled in three additional students to field a full team of 12 for state. State VAC took place April 10 in Madison. The competition was set up much like regionals; students brought their long-term projects for judging and were given a prompt for a short-term piece. Before heading to state, they were given lists of items and supplies to bring for their projects, but not the actual prompt.
In keeping with the theme, movement, a critical thinking assignment at state was to create a chain reaction. The team had one hour to create the piece and write an artist statement. They created a large mural portraying a lighted match leading to an explosion and chaos.
The knowledge bowl component of the competition ended after 11 tie-breaker questions. The team earned a second in state following their inaccurate final question. If they had won the bowl, they would have won first place overall. As it was, they placed fourth out of 64 teams.
Coach Lieb has no regrets about her team’s performance. She’s proud of how well everybody was able to work independently and as a team.
Individual Artists
Senior Ayla Madland created a mixed media piece that looks like a vibrant quilt showing her growing up. Ayla used bright colors to symbolize her fun, colorful childhood. Waves of color in the background added movement. To create the piece, Ayla attached cloth using double-sided tape and poked the edges into styrofoam.
Aubrie Auman, also a senior, portrayed movement in her category, photography, with a series of photos of a soccer player she had recruited. She “messed with her shutter speed” to get a blurred effect to show movement.
Senior Havliah Pfeffer competed in the painting category with a watercolor. Her long-term prompt was to portray travel through a landscape. She painted a horse moving through the woods. For her short-term project, she was to paint an animal from her landscape; she chose to focus on the horse. An abundance of vines and flowers added interpretive movement to the painting.
Havliah loves the stress of the competition at events. She enjoys studying something new and new artists each year. Havliah was nominated for the Sherry Zei award. Zei was one of the founders of VAC and a proponent for students to express themselves.
Eighth grader Lauren Schultz competed in drawing. Her long-term prompt was to create a geopsychography of a place where she felt most safe or welcome in her head. Lauren used her room as her inspiration; seashells, a disco ball and patterns and repeated colors of the disco ball appeared in her drawing.
Tenth grader Gwen Lieb competed in functional arts. She sewed a top trimmed with beading. Additional longer strands of beads attached to the wearer’s wrists and added movement to the top. Gwen needed to submit a 30 second video to show movement of her creation. Her short-term state project was a dress; the prompt was to create a piece that hid something; the flowing skirt hid Gwen’s legs.
Sawyer Lepper entered the digital art category with her long-term project inspired by Percy Jackson. She was to make a favorite book into a TV show and show action. This is exactly what she hopes to do in the future!
In photography, Jewels Lidke created a series of three closeup photos of pasta making. She had gotten a camera as a gift and took a plethora of photos to create her entry.
Evelyn Lobland chose mixed media; she did felting that portrayed a flower bed, path and a stream. Her regional short-term prompt was to show a ritual in her life which was to plant flowers. Her short-term state prompt was to show her trip to VAC. Evelyn was awed at the multitude of ideas competitors came up with from a single prompt.
Sanny Rafael, an exchange student from Brazil, created a three color relief print inspired by The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The same print received a score of 20/20 at regionals, 16/20 at state, and a 20/20 best-in-site at at MSHL regions in Rochester. Coach Lieb noted that all art judging is very subjective. Rafael’s print will be entered in MSHL state competition May 16.
Movement was a great theme for the Lanesboro Art Team; the team and their coach are in constant movement as they study new artists and enter many competitions enthusiastically embracing their art and competitions.
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