[slideshow_deploy id=’7091′]
Every year art pieces from around the state are gathered and judged on the quality of their composition and the skill with which they were executed. Each year Fossil Ridge High School has students who are recognized for their art achievements. This year 11 students from FRHS were awarded the Scholastic Gold Key award which advances them to national judging and potential scholarship recognition. Out of the 4,000 pieces that were judged at the Scholastic Art Awards of Colorado, FRHS was able to capture attention for 22 pieces in all categories, as well as Gold Key recognition for an entire portfolio.
Entries range from drawing and painting to mixed media, sculpture, jewelry and photography. Each piece that is entered is judged based on technical skill, originality and personal voice or vision. All Gold, Silver and Honorable Mention key awards were on display from Feb. 7 to Feb. 26 at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. FRHS took home more awards than any other school in the state of Colorado. Students who took home Gold Key awards are: senior Emily Andersen-Arends, senior Riley Crowell, senior Michelle Roby, senior Tessa Marquardt-Burrell, senior Zoe Metropoulus, junior Abbie Curran, junior Ann Chocran, junior Clara MacFarland, sophomore Mason Garifi, and freshman Haley Henning. In recognition for his entire photography portfolio, senior Zach Gormley received a Gold Key. All of these students’ artwork move on to the national level and compete against student artwork from across the nation.
“[This award] is a sense of accomplishment,” said Mason Garifi. Garifi won for a panoramic photo of Horseshoe Lake. His inspiration for this piece was kind of a luck-of-the-moment situation. He was sitting at the end of his dock and decided that the light and the colors would make for a good picture. Garifi just started photography this year at FRHS where he took a photography class and is currently in the advanced photography class. “I was not expecting it, I was kind of surprised when I found out I was one of the two that won for individual pieces,” Garifi said.
Zoe Metropoulus’s award came as a shock for this aspiring young artist. “I used a lot of techniques I had never used before,” Metropoulus said in reference to her mixed media piece depicting a bird in the air. Metropoulus tends to consider her strengths drawing, and by being recognized for this piece is truly a blessing. “It makes me happy that someone else also enjoyed my art,” said Metropoulus. Metropoulus isn’t the only senior who was shocked by her award; Tessa Marquardt-Burrell was taken aback by her depiction of a crow that she drew. “All of the projects that were chosen were very different,” Marquardt-Burrell said. Despite this, Marquardt-Burrell and Metropoulus both had depictions of birds in their artwork. “I like to draw birds,” Metropoulus said. In similar fashion, Marquardt-Burrell said, “I have always had a fascination with drawing feathers.”
Now that their artwork has received recognition on a state level, the national level recognition would allow prestigious recognition, as well as provide scholarship opportunities. “On Mar. 17 we find out if our pieces move on to the national gallery,” Garifi said. As the student’s artwork moves forward they also look forward to the future and where their artwork will take them. “I’m going to Colorado State University to study art and hopefully become an art teacher or designer,” Marquardt-Burrell said.
Students from FRHS also received recognition for their silver and honorable mention key awards. The students who received Silver Key awards include: senior Zach Gormley, senior Tessa Marquardt-Burrell, senior Zoe Metropoulus, junior Ann Cochran, junior. The students who received Honorable Mention recognition include: senior Molly Satterwhite, senior Maddi Micallef, senior Caleb Aslor, senior Brittany Wallace, junior Clara MacFarland.
