Something even stronger than words connects people all over the world: art.
Junior Kaelyn Owens will compete in the regional Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) at Georgetown High School with their painting piece on Feb. 14.
“[My piece] is more to get people thinking, ‘Wow,’” Owens said. “‘Why do we buy things? Why do I need that Chanel stuff?’ It’s like a form of status to have [Chanel] or it represents their identity.”
Owens will compete at VASE by explaining the story of their piece to a board of judges. Each judge is selected for their knowledge in multiple art forms and sensitivity to students. It’s important for them to be receptive to each piece presented to them by a range of student artists. This competition determines whether or not each student moves on to the state level of the competition.
“I wanted to really try and do something out of my comfort zone this year,” Owens said. “Painting, it’s definitely something that was out of my comfort zone, especially with the piece at the scale it is. I’ve never done a big painting like that, so I just wanted to see how it would affect [my score].”
A decade of art classes has brought Owens to where they are now, on and off campus, including photography, ceramics and painting This year, they take AP 2D Design, taught by Kaitlyn Vanwagner.
“While every class has its perks, my upper-level painting and AP classes are certainly the most exciting,” Vanwagner said. “Students arrive each day excited to create and [they are] up for the next challenge. This builds a great community of young artists and [it] is so rewarding to see the amazing work they create.”
Vanwagner has taught art classes for five years now, currently teaching AP 2D Design, painting, and Art 1. She’s known Owens for two years, as they were in Vanwagner’s painting class last year, and Vanwagner now sponsors Owens’ piece for VASE.
“Ms. Vanwagner’s just someone that is very enthusiastic and passionate about what she loves,” Owens said. “I think she really reflects that onto her students and just shows a passion for art that really gets people to succeed and experiment with new things.”
Outside of school, Owens is a member of the Vision Dance Company and leads the Art Club as an officer by coordinating dates for meetings and activities.. Officers sophomore Hope Nielson and junior Aanya Eledath, along with Owens and Vanwagner, worked to make sure information about VASE was available to members of the club.
“[VASE] was really fun,” Owens said. “It was just me and all [of] my friends, and we were really excited. After getting to hang around [with] all my friends and getting to look and talk about all of our pieces and just see everyone’s piece finalized.”
Students competing are bussed to the competition, where each student privately presents their piece to a judge. Students are classed by how many art classes they’ve taken in high school to ensure that they’re competing with artists of their level.
“Lyn’s use of texture, compositional flow, and a vibrant, harmonious color palette makes this a very successful artwork in my opinion,” Vanwagner said. “They did a great job executing their concept and spent countless hours working on the central figure until it was perfect.”
Vanwagner herself noticed Owens spending many hours within Vanwagner’s class to work on their piece, as well as coming in after school, and taking their piece home with them to get extra time creating it.
“Art is just a moment where I can take one thought, put it down, and plan it out,” Owens said. “ I feel like I have something consistent to show to people if my words or my life isn’t as consistent.”
