• Art Contest Winners

In this blog I'll share a bit of the 2017 Reflections Art Contest at Donald Graham Elementary. 

Let me start off with, if you entered this contest, you are already a winner. Art is all about being creative, not about winning ribbons.

A group photo of the winners... though some of the winners had returned to their classes and a few winners in other categories took their places ☺. It's almost like herding cats trying to take a group shot during an outdoor assembly at an elementary school  ☺.

The theme for this year was Within Reach and winners have the potential of competing on the district level, county level, state level and even the national level if they their artwork is chosen to go to the next level.

The themes are usually general in nature, and wide latitude is given to the participants.
Hey, they're kids, and in art, who says what is what anyway... right? ☺

The various entries took up the south wall in the multipurpose room (MPR).

There were only two 6th students that chose to enter, which are on the far left. The 3rd through 5th go from the left to the middle part of the banner. K through 2nd are from the middle to the last electrical outlet, and special abilities are on the right.

The impossible task for the three judges were to determine who would win, place and show (come in first, second and third) in each of the categories. The judges were Mayor Tim Walker, Councilmember Bridgette Moore and Wildomar Blogger Joseph Morabito (me).

Mayor Tim Walker and Councilmember Bridgette Moore discuss the detail in this entry.

We enjoyed the work of all the students, but still were charged with making choices; not an easy task. Where it was possible, we tried to see how well the theme was represented when choosing.

Principal Laura Konecni, PTA President Jamie Sundahl, Councilmember Bridgette Moore, Mayor Tim Walker, Joseph Morabito, Contest Coordinator Vitalia Gonzalo.

The contest had four categories
     • Special abilities students
     • Kindergarten through second grade
     • Third through fifth grade 
     • Middle school

The first three winners are in the Special Abilities category.

This rainbow was chosen for first place, created by Torin S.
Torin wasn't at the assembly to have a photo taken.

The judges referred to this as "Graduation" and thought it represented the theme well.

Especially with the contest being in the same month as Halloween,
we really liked what we saw as Jack O'Lanterns.

Kindergarten Through Second Grade

The judges loved the mixed media in this work and how it captured
the endless possibilities a young student has in their future. 

The judges liked the ambition of this student's desire to be on America's Got Talent.

I remember the Mayor remarking about this piece and surfing the top of the wave.

Third Through Fifth Grade

This was one of the favorites among the judges.
We all admired the future ideas that this young artist aspires to.

We all were impressed with the way the lines bowed out when they got to the hand.

The judges enjoyed reading about "Miss Saunders'" 

and the classroom she hopes to have someday.

Middle School Category

Character drawing isn't easy, and the judges appreciated the skill necessary to create this.

I remember the Mayor being particularly impressed with the detail in this drawing.

What a great honor it was to help judge the contest and to then be at the assembly to take these photos. Good luck in the contest, and in your future endeavors. 

A quick note to those that entered the contest but didn't win. Keep creating art for the love of art itself, don't be discouraged if your art doesn't win in a contest... it's happened to me many times, and I keep creating just the same. 

•                •                •

Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.
– Pablo Picasso

The artist in Wildomar Rap has often been accused of needing to grow up.