You can say you knew them when. Congratulations to creative visual artists 玛蒂娜·菲奥雷22岁 和 王奕涵, 23岁 who won Gold Key 和 other honors in the 2022学术艺术 & 写作奖 for their photography 和 other artwork.

According to their website, The 学习艺术 & 写作奖 are “the longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens, 和 the largest source of scholarships for young artists 和 writers in the United States.” 学生 in Grades 7-12 may enter their original art 和/or writing work 和 can receive a Regional Award: Gold Key, 银钥匙, 或荣誉奖. New York City Gold Key winners move on to a national competition.

摄影

玛蒂娜·菲奥雷22岁 won awards for her photography including a Gold Key for “Seeping Through,” 和 a 银钥匙 for both  “An Organized Mess” 和 “Driftwood.”

“‘An Organized Mess’ was the only photo I took for photography class out of the three that won,菲奥里说。. “This photo was taken on the school’s Canon camera.  The other two photos were taken on my iPhone. I took ‘Seeping Through’ in January of my junior year when I was struggling through an upsetting moment. Rather than sinking into the negative feelings I was experiencing, I decided to capture my emotion 和 turn it into art. ‘Driftwood’ was taken during a family trip to Montauk. The only previous experience I had with photography was the 保利预科 photography summer class also taught by Ms. Scherer, which I took in my sophomore year summer.”

“An Organized Mess’ was taken in one shot. “I used a long exposure to create the overlaying effect,” Fiore explained. “I lowered the shutter speed on my camera to thirty second intervals so when I pressed the button to take the photo the aperture closed initially 和 then slowly opened over those thirty seconds allowing the light to seep in.  I made my first pose when the aperture first closed 和 then changed my pose holding it until the aperture fully opened again creating the overlaying effect.”

Fiore said she enjoys working in black 和 white “because it allows emotion to be at the forefront of a photo. There is no distraction, only the impact the light 和 shadows make on the subject.” She said this past semester she has begun to experiment with singular colors as well as desaturation.

图纸

王奕涵, who is enrolled in Poly’s Excellence in the 艺术 Program, earned two Gold Key awards for his artwork: “淹没” 和 “Triads.”

Wang created “淹没” for his painting class, 和 “三合会” for his AP Art Studio class. “For ‘Drown,’ I used watercolor with colored pencils 和 ink drawing on top of it,” 王说. “For ‘Triads,’ I used colored pencils to create the color chunk 和 I used graphite to shade.”

Asked what he would like people to take away from his artwork, 王说, “I tend not to define my works with specific messages. But I really enjoy the emotions 和 tensions within these two works. I hope the viewers can feel that, too, as they look into these two works.” 

“In ‘Triads,’ we see two parties fighting against each other,” Wang explained. “It is one of the most political artworks I have ever created, 和 I consider this as a bold attempt. I tend not to define my work with a specific message, but this is a recount of an event that I witnessed when I was a kid. At a time, people were angry 和 humanities turned into something ugly—represented by demons. Three is such a sacred number with so many religious connotations. Religion was a huge part of this story, not necessarily Christianity, but religion overall. I think the idea of the three really spiritualized the drawing into something bigger than realistically retelling the horror story, becoming a universal story of rebellion 和 resistance. But my favorite part is actually the two cactuses. Their existence is very r和om. While we are trying to figure out the meaning of three, 仙人掌似乎在告诉我们, “这一切都毫无意义. 你愚蠢的.’ I can see different tension going on between the figures, demons, 和 symbols. I had a lot of fun drawing this one, 和 hopefully the viewers can enjoy finding the underlying message too.”

学生 interested in participating in the 学习艺术 & 写作奖应该 访问网站 了解更多信息. Submission for the 2023 contest opens September 1, 2022.