Westlake students earn 21 Scholastic Art awards
Twelve Westlake High School and four Lee Burneson Middle School art students earned 21 awards in the 33rd Cuyahoga County Region Scholastic Art & Writing Competition and Exhibition.
The competition recognizes creative achievement of seventh- to 12th-grade students throughout Cuyahoga County. The young artists compete for cash prizes, medals and scholarship awards. A panel of local professional artists, art educators, writers and writing educators jury the exhibit and select the awarded pieces. Students who receive Portfolio Awards and Gold Key Awards continue to the national competition this spring in New York City.
This year the Cuyahoga County competition received 1,737 individual art pieces, of which 65 Gold Key Awards were awarded. Additionally, 112 Silver Key Awards and 211 Honorable Mentions were awarded.
Westlake’s Gold Key winners were sophomore Madeline Chernosky’s mixed media, “Self Portrait”; junior Allison Chonko’s jewelry, “Courage”; senior Daniel Dobish’s drawing, “Con-jumbled Cassettes” and his art portfolio; and freshman Madeline Lee’s self-portrait drawing.
Silver Key awards went to senior Grace Galvin’s ceramics and glass, “Eugene,” ceramics and glass, “layering labyrinth,” and digital art, “Free Yourself”; senior Ashley Kay’s digital art, “Mixed Feelings”; freshman Claire Turgeon’s untitled mixed media; and senior Kelley Zhou’s painting, “Occupy Cleveland.”
Also winning Silver Keys were seventh-grader Gina Bowser for her painting, “Dino,” and eighth-grader Hallie Pohlman for her sculpture, “My Name Is Pieces.”
Honorable Mention awards went to senior Samantha Buck’s jewelry, “Love is the Breath that Sustains Us”; senior Daniel Dobish’s drawing, “Bad Decisions”; senior Samra Kajtezovic’s painting, “A Culture Confined”; junior Wan Kwok’s self-portrait drawing and painting, "Coffee Shop at the West Side Market”; and senior Lauren Pankiw’s sculpture, “Shelldon.” Also earning Honorable Mentions were seventh-grader Ben Sposet for his sculpture and eighth grader T.J. Withers for his photography, “Paper.”