Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: NWESD Staff Favorite

115. "Octavius" by Kristina Girvan

     9th Grade, Friday Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Andrew Anderson

     
     

     Artist statement: When I began this piece, my family was planning a trip to Mexico, where one of my favorite foods is octopus. It saddens me that octopuses are such intelligent animals, so I decided I wanted to create a piece inspired by the sea creature. I used my carving tools and the stand I built to keep it up while I made the tentacles. For most of the time, it was stuffed with paper towels for support.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: NWESD Staff Favorite

203. "Stained Glass" by Miyabi Leelaphisut

     10th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kit Christopherson

     
     

     Artist statement: I was inspired by stained glass from churches and the Autumn Landscape, Tiffany Studios, 1923 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. I wanted to create an effect of glass and oil paint into this piece, as well as adding many colors throughout my entire piece like how stained glass reflects a variety of beautiful colors while also maintaining a calm atmosphere in my art piece.

Winner: CWU Scholarship Award

102. "man of sorrow" by Alli Tolen

     11th Grade, Snohomish High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kate Obukowicz

     
     

     Artist statement: I used inspiration from some of the art my dad had made, he had a very unique style to his art and I wanted to try and take that and make that into my own.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

105. "Life of a Pumpkin" by Bella Rapp

     10th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Maya Kilmer

     
     

     Artist statement: I wanted to show how time affects living things, and I chose a pumpkin as the main subject of my artwork because of my love for Halloween.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: CWU Scholarship Award

305. "Mother" by McKenzie Burdick

     11th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kit Christopherson

     
     

     Artist statement: This piece was inspired by the close observation of my chicken's everyday life. I wanted to capture the detail and intensity of her because she was broody when I took the photo. One thing I wanted to focus on was getting the contrast in the black feathers by using different blues, greens, and whites. This further emphasized the detail in the drawing. I used colored pencils and a white gel pen.

Winner: BEST IN SHOW

(Judges' Favorite, NWESD Staff Favorite, CWU Scholarship Award)

313. "For N." by Joel Bennett

     11th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kit Christopherson.

     
     

     Artist statement: A close friend and I learned how to draw pointillism along side each other last year, he is very talented but is not very passionate about art. The first and only pointillism piece he created used a very similar  reference image as this piece. His piece was incredible but he never got around to finishing it. We drifted apart over the year, but I wanted to create something that paid homage to him. This is the first piece of my AP drawing portfolio. Each piece in my portfolio is pen and ink stippling/pointillism. This is my biggest piece this year and took hundreds of hours. (ZOOM IN)

Winner: Judges' Favorite

326. "Up Close and Far Away: Isaiah" by Jasper Christopherson

     10th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kit Christopherson

     
     

     Artist statement: Through the process of making this piece, I was inspired by my dad, who is my art teacher, and the desire to help others who have lost friends to moving feel heard. Growing up in a Navy town, I have faced many friends' unwanted departures. I truly miss my friend. And I hope to be the voice for others like me. To make this piece I used colored pencils and original photographs 

Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: CWU Scholarship Award

408. "One, Two, Three, Cheese!" by Sarina Randolph

     12th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kit Christopherson

     
     

     Artist statement: "One, Two, Three, Cheese!" is based on a photo of myself as a kid holding a handmade smile over my face. This imagery made me reflect on how people are taught to mask their emotions from a young age, and inspired the creation of my piece. I constructed a muted toned paper smile over the vibrant oil pastel, to draw the audience' s attention, and invite them to ponder on the underlying message.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: CWU Scholarship Award

414. "Hypocritical Consumers" by Kaitlin Cellona

     11th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kit Christopherson

     
     

     Artist statement: This piece is inspired by people claiming that art jobs serve no purpose, but then they consume things like music and film. I wanted to highlight the hypocritical nature of these claims, and really put it into perspective.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: CWU Scholarship Award

518. "Pucker Face" by Gwen Miller

     11th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kit Christopherson

     
     

     Artist statement: For this piece, I wanted to focus on how emotions are read on faces, using a photo of me as a child as a reference. I also wanted to show depth of field with the lizard, sharpening it relative to the face to add more dimension to the piece. I was inspired by the style of many Renaissance painters and their ability to seamlessly transition shadows and tones on faces.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: CWU Scholarship Award

530. "Nostalgia" by Raya Stiles

     12th Grade, Bellingham High School

     
     

     Teacher: Cathy Gersich

     
     

     Artist statement: I was inspired to create this painting by the importance of my relationship with my sister throughout my life, starting in our childhood. The process I used to create this piece was sketching out our figures using acrylic paint over a wash of color based upon a reference photo of me and my sister in our youth. I used various brushes to paint this piece using only blue and white.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

532. "One Fish Two Fish" by Lalana Ishikawa

     10th Grade, Burlington-Edison High School

     
     

     Teacher: Suzanne McLelland

     
     

     Artist statement: The painting is based on a surrealist style collage made from found images. After constructing the collage, the painting was done as an interpretation of it using vibrant colors and energetic brushstrokes, showing energy and movement

Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: CWU Scholarship Award

602. "Divergent" by Megan Saadati

     11th Grade, Lynnwood High School

     
     

     Teacher: Donna Schou

     
     

     Artist statement: What first inspired me to do this was to look at leading line photography and to get an idea of what leading lines I wanted to take a picture of. Second, when I went outside, I found that there were parking lines for the bus to park and when there was no busses, and the line I wanted to take a picture of was there, there was a tree that had happened to align with it, making it a coincidence.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

Winner: CWU Scholarship Award

616. "The Last Reflection" by Emma Simpkins

     12th grade, Glacier Peak High School (Snohomish)

     
     

     Teacher: Christa Mallory

     
     

     Artist statement: The piece encompasses the fleeting experience of life, and the solemn effect of hindsight and self reflection in the moments that are too late. I discovered the bee on top of my car before departing, and was taken aback about how symbolic I found the dying creature. I retrieved my camera and my kit lens (at the time I didn't possess a macro lens) and used my camera knowledge to achieve depth.

Winner: Judges' Favorite

111. "Salmon Dinner" by Morgan Brawford

     12th Grade, Oak Harbor High School

     
     

     Teacher: Kayla Spruce

     
     

     Artist statement: I hope to share new information and educate others about the rich history of Whidbey Island and the importance of history through art. To create this piece, I used about 5lbs of sea mix clay and made it on the pottery wheel. Then using underglaze I painted a pink/humpy salmon on the inside, topping with a clear glaze and coating the outer edge in a brown/slightly purple glaze. On Whidbey Island in the 1920s, families ran fishing cabins allowing for other families to get food on vacation during ww1. My piece shows the dinner often shared by families who stayed.