Ten BVNW art students traveled to BVSW earlier today for the EKL art competition. The EKL includes all Blue Valley schools, Gardner Edgerton, Bishop Miege, and Saint Thomas Aquinas. BVNW placed third overall in this year’s competition.

The students from BVNW competing were seniors Grant Dyer, Emma Rockey, Betsy Cha, Janice Chen, Jesse Hiser, Courtney Long, Abbie Cornelius, Anna Koz and juniors Lauren Christie and Mallory Iszard.

“As a school, we [brought] 30 pieces of art work,” art teacher Melanie Mikel said. “We [hung] the artwork when we [got] over there, and all eight different schools [brought] 30 pieces of artwork. It’s a big art show.”

Students have to be chosen to compete. All five art teachers get together to pick their ideal students. According to art teacher Chris LaValley, the teachers select students that have a lot of art class credits, are talented in many areas of art and have built up dependable skills. Additionally, LaValley said they look for students that work well on teams, since many of the activities are done in groups.

“We had a meeting with the whole team and let them know what was coming up and what the events were,” Mikel said. “They signed up to be on particular planning committees. They [had] a few meetings before we [got] there about what they want to do in those team events.”

While the art pieces are being judged, students compete in activities. In one room, students draw a still life for 45 minutes. A still life is a painting or drawing of an arrangement of objects. The best score from the session wins points for the students’ team.

“All throughout the morning our kids are alternating, but they’ll switch in to work on this ongoing project of the performance sculpture and they build it out of cardboard and anything recycled,” Mikel said. “[The sculpture] is going to completely cover a person. There’s [around] 40 points for the team that wins that event.”

This year, the BVNW students created a knight in shining armor robot. Senior Grant Dyer said he noticed a different school building a Japanese samurai, and another had an iPad in its helmet.

Another competition consists of building the tallest pot. Students practiced for this even before the competition.

“You blindfold yourself so you can’t see and then throw the tallest cylinder,” Dyer said. “They grade you on both how tall it is and how evenly spaced the walls are.”

Some of the students worked on a sidewalk chalk activity throughout the day. They were required to create a drawing involving the school mascot and a storybook character. The artists drew a husky as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. It was judged on the skill level of the artists, the creativity and the quality of the piece.

“Athletic sports are kind of taken for granted, because you get to compete with other schools and see how other people are doing,” Dyer said. “With art, you’re stuck inside of your own school, and you only get to see people who are in your school. It’s really nice to be able to talk to other people and see what they’re doing.”

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Courtney Long won a total of four points for her two photos Black Abyssand Ethereal Gaze.

Mallory Iszard won one point for her painting Self.

Lily Reid won three points for her untitled sculpture.

Janice Chen won two points for her jewelry piece Sterling Sphere.

Sean Reuter won one point for his jewelry piece Filigree Ring.

Betsy Cha won a total of four points for her drawing Blooming Tide and her fibers piece Woven Texture.

Hollie Mullen won three points for her computer generated art pieceMagazine Cover.

Zora Urbanyi won two points for her painting Reflection.

Lauren Osborne won three points for her jewelry piece Diamond Ring.

Matt Stroebel won one point for his jewelry piece Sterling Pendant.

Kaylan Moore won one point for her computer generated art piece Leave your Mark on the World.

Lauren Christie won two points for her printmaking piece Rose.

Arden Williams won two points for her photo Self Portrait.