The Art Department has recently seen multiple students win different competitions, including sophomore Sawyer Hess winning the Golden Key scholastic award at the Milwaukee Art Museum and sophomore Katera Hartzke winning $50 from private donors. Students have also recently won awards in the Green Lake Country poster competition and in Youth Art Month, where three pieces will be shown at the state competition.
“I feel really happy when people win,” art teacher Lori Rademann said. “I think it gives them a little more motivation. We had no idea Katera would win $50, but, boy, what a nice motivator that is to take your time and do a nice job.”
Hartzke created a stained glass piece with dragonflies and flowers with her grandmother over the summer.
“It was kind of hard honestly, I had to cut all the pieces really specifically and it took a long time,” Hartzke said. “It was fun though.”
Hess won the Golden Key for painting and drawing. His piece was a landscape of the Black Hills in South Dakota, the reference photo being one he took himself.
“I made a grid and then just did box by box, I didn’t sketch it out ahead of time,” Hess said. “I initially started at the bottom left, realized it looked terrible, and then wanted to do something easier, so I did the sky and by then I’d gotten a bit better at doing it and I redid that part of the bottom.”
Creating art has always been a passion in Hess’ life. After years of drawing he wanted to start submitting his drawings and paintings into competitions.
“I’ve done it since I was young. I like drawing dragons and stuff. I just thought it was fun to draw, and I just kept on doing it,” Hess said.
Submitting for competitions is mostly done by the art teachers, but the students are also excited by the chance to enter these competitions.
“Mrs. Rademann said she needed things for the competitions and I thought it would be a fun opportunity to put my art in there and see how it goes,” Hartzke said.
While the creation process is largely individual, Rademann does offer help and support for all of her students during the process.
“I watch them and maybe give them suggestions like ‘oh I see you’re doing that, maybe it would be better if you think about doing it like this,’ so I do have a hand in everyone’s a little bit,” Rademann said.
