Art students earn recognition during Youth Art Month
January 31, 2023
Every year several art pieces get submitted to be judged for Youth Art Month. This year, art teacher Angela Breunig selected five different student’s art work to get judged. The five students who had art submitted were Cayli Johnson, Ethan Brunke, Jenna Tuinstra, Meradeth Reisnbach and Aubrey Meyers.
“I personally submit five artists and their work to regionals. At regionals, the works are juried, and three are guaranteed to make it to state. At state, they select a variety of artworks to win other specific awards like best of drawing, best of painting, etc,” Breunig said.
Among those who were selected was freshman Meradeth Reinsbach. Her piece of work that was selected was a portrait of BHS teacher Eydie Reiser.
“The art piece that won the award was a portrait done in pencil; it was inspired by Mrs. Reiser. I chose her as my subject because she is a lovely person to be around and her energy fills the room,” Reinsbach said.
Junior Jenna Tuinstra was selected to go to state for Youth Art Month. Tuinstra also received a Gold Key award for her self portrait in colored pencils and embroidery floss.
“I love using colored pencils so I of course used those. But, I tried making it a bit difficult for myself by splitting the piece in two parts. A colored pencil side and then graphite at the top half which I would try matching together,” Tuinstra said.
The way to win a Gold Key award is for the school to submit high quality photographs of a student’s work. A panel of judges then projects the work on a large screen and nitpicks the good and the bad. They decide the quality, and skill that the work conveys. They can give it a Gold Key, Silver Key, Honorable Mention, or nothing at all. Tuinstra’s Gold Key award was the first for Berlin in over 15 years.
“We had a silver key about four years ago, but it’s been closer to 15 years since we had a Gold Key,” Breunig said.
Jenna’s work will be at the Milwaukee Art Museum through March. The state artworks are currently at the Neville Art Museum in Green Bay, but then will travel to Madison for the month of March.
