January 11, 2016 at 1:39 p.m.
JWMS student's artwork recognized at contest
JWMS student's artwork recognized at contest
By Kayla Thomason-
Seventh grader Valerie Kravchenko created a piece that fit the theme of Educating Hearts and Minds to Build Sustainable Communities and a Healthy Future.
"I was pretty happy and excited and stuff," she said. "I didn't think I would do that good. I thought it was just 'OK,' so I was surprised."
Valerie used acrylic paint to create a sunset, which had vibrant red, soft orange and bright yellow hues. With a sharpie she created the silhouette of dandelions, with some of their fluff blowing in the wind, birds and the words "hope" and "wish." In the foreground of the piece is a self-portrait with "Love" across the front. It was created with colored pencil.
"I didn't really want to do what everybody else was doing with the cities so I decided to do something more focused on nature," she said.
The idea developed while Valerie was doodling, trying to teach herself how to draw dandelions. She also liked the idea of a sunset background, she said.
Brian Carpenter, sixth- through eighth-grade art teacher at JWMS, offered the contest to his seventh-grade High Art students. Four students entered.
This is the fourth year that JWMS students have participated in the contest and the first time a local student has made it into the top 10.
Valerie's piece, along with the work of other students from around the state, will be on display at the State Education Convention at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee on Jan. 20-21. Over 3,000 attendees will get to see the effort the students of Wisconsin put into their artwork.
"This achievement is huge (for Valerie)," Carpenter said. "In my 20-plus years of teaching, this ranks right up there."
The students had about eight days to complete their projects and Carpenter said the written statement seemed to be the hardest part for most of them.
Valerie said she sort just "winged" the paragraph that was included with her piece.
Valerie had a lot of people who were ecstatic about her accomplishment.
"I was super excited to not only see, but hear that Valerie placed in the top 10," Carpenter said. "I immediately took a picture of the letter I received and forwarded it to my school district superintendent, Kelli Jacobi. She was excited as well and I forwarded a short informational document to my building principal, Richard Gretzinger, so that it could be shared with the students and staff of the building in the morning announcements."
Valerie said her mother was also really happy, surprised and proud of her.
Her friends also congratulated her, she said.
Jacobi and the school board will be attending the convention and will bring the piece back to Rhinelander for Valerie to hang in a place of honor.
Kayla Breese may be reached at kayla@ rivernewsonline.com.
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