Award-Winning Artists: Chloe Beattie and Nora Stoianova
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On February 19th, Northwest High School seniors Chloe Beattie and Nora Stoianova were awarded Silver Key Honors for their artwork submitted to the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
The National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards give recognition to young artists and writers across the country. Established in 1923, the awards have since grown into one of the most prestigious recognition programs in the United States. Each year, this program honors high school students who demonstrate exceptional talent and skill in visual arts and writing. Thousands of students from across the country submit their work with hopes of receiving the Gold Key, Silver Key or Honorable Mention distinctions. This year, Northwest High School seniors Chloe Beattie and Nora Stoianova were awarded the Silver Key honor.
Chloe Beattie
Chloe Beattie, senior, with her award-winning artwork titled “School Pride.”
Beattie received the Silver Key honor in the illustration category for her portrait work titled, “School Pride.” She was given the assignment of creating a portrait for her Drawing 2 class. She wanted to create a piece that represented something special to her, so she decided to draw her brother. She had tried sketching out a few variations of his football pictures but ultimately decided to stay with the photo of him looking directly at the viewer. She used variations of colored pencils and charcoal to create the still-life portrait. Beattie found the most challenging part of creating her portrait to be drawing his hair and face proportions.
“It’s hard to capture someone’s face that you see every day because you want it to be perfect, but it’s not always going to be perfect,” said Beattie.
Originally, Beattie was not planning on submitting any artwork to this competition, but her AP 2D Design teacher at WHS strongly encouraged her to submit her work. She specifically chose to submit “School Pride” because of her brother’s bold stare and how the pop of blue from his jersey grabs the viewers’ attention.
Beattie has been creating art for as long as she can remember. She enjoys drawing and using graphite because she feels it is how she can best capture her subjects. One of her favorite pieces is a recently created watercolor portrait of herself, her brother and her dad from when they were younger.
Beattie said, “I think it just brings back a lot of nostalgic memories, so that’s definitely one of my other favorites.”
Next year, Beattie is planning to attend the Kansas City Art Institute. She is hoping to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree as an illustration major.
Beattie reflected, “I’m really glad I had the opportunity to put my work into the art show.”
Nora Stoianova
Nora Stoianova, senior, with her award-winning artwork titled “Feminine Strength.”
Stoianova received the Silver Key honor in the drawing and illustration category for her artwork titled “Feminine Strength.” For her AP 2D art and design class she was tasked with creating a portfolio with different pieces and an overarching theme. She had chosen her theme to be “Teenage Fantasy.”
When describing the meaning behind her artwork, Stoianova stated, “I feel like strength is often associated with masculine traits, so I wanted to show more of a feminine side that’s also strong.”
In preparation for this piece of art, she created five different concept sketches, as well as taking different posed pictures of herself for reference photos. Once she had decided on a concept and pose, she first sketched her idea on a piece of paper and then went in with colored pencils. She estimated this specific piece took around 15 hours to complete. She feels that every art piece she creates, helps her to get better and grow her abilities in some way.
“With [Feminine Strength], I discovered that I could do realism, but manipulate the colors more, so that was pretty cool,” Stoianova stated.
Typically with art competitions, judging can be very subjective, because each piece resonates differently with the viewer. Stoianova chose to submit this piece specifically because it showcases her technical skills with foreshortening and color pencil blending, which are often seen as more difficult.
Additionally, she submitted two other pieces, a comic and a ceramic piece, which both received honorable mentions. Before this competition, she submitted a different colored pencil piece to the Burbs Art Show which received first place in its category. Stoianova also submitted two colored pencil pieces to the Waukee Art Show, where she received an honorable mention.
Reflecting on her three placements at the Scholastic Art Awards, Stoianova said, “It makes me feel better about creating art. I was in an art block period where I didn’t like anything that I made, so [this award has] made me feel better and more confident.”
Stoianova has been creating art since she was three years old, and it is one of her favorite things to do. A few of her favorite pieces are a portrait of herself with a butterfly over her face, which she created with colored pencils, as well as a ceramic pitcher she carved flowers into, which can be found in the display case by the art rooms. She enjoys creating digital art because it is fun and stress-free, as well as ceramics because it is a lot different than the other art forms.
Next year she is planning to attend Iowa State, where she will major in computer science and minor in illustration.