Senior Katie Stafford, junior Luca Cordova and sophomore Jolie Ferrer won or were finalists in various art contests featuring the state’s best work.
Stafford received $2,000 worth of tuition money from Central Washington University as well as an honorable mention from Pierce County Arts for her beaded shirt, “Drips of Glorified Red.” She got inspiration over the summer, started developing her own idea in November, and finished in February. At first, the goal was just to get a photoshoot, but as she put more work into the shirt, the piece became the shirt itself. It was her first time working with beads or fabric in that way, and she put over 50 hours into the artwork. Stafford will be attending Western Washington University in the fall, majoring in graphic design and minoring in photography.
Cordova was the regional award winner for his digital and acrylic piece, “Hardship.” Cordova creatively utilized these different painting mediums to depict the spectrum of realism within the art, matching his overall theme of fantasy vs. reality for his AP Art portfolio. He’s been drawing for as long as he can remember, but this was his first time submitting a piece of work in a contest.
Ferrer received a Pierce County Arts Honorable Mention for her ceramics piece, “Reborn.” “I wanted to put the idea of change into perspective,” she said. She’s been making ceramic pieces for two years and hopes to sell some of them in the future.
Cordova’s piece “Hardship” will be moving on to compete in a more competitive state contest on May 30. “Think of it like sports: he won regionals or districts and is moving on to the state championship,” said SHS art teacher Janelle Mock.