There were a lot of great entries.
There was one with a child evidently tethered to a space ship, and one of that kid’s entries took second place. There was one with actual flowers arranged AS a flower, but that was out of state. There were impactful messages. There was skill. There was creativity and picking the winners had to do with recognizing the best of several works by a particular artist with multiple entries, and to an extent: “Who would we love to see MORE from?”
First Place IMPACT
“Oh The Places You’ll Go Soon” which spoke to us all with its cheer and hope as we embarked on our quarantine amid so much death. This entry is among three which all rated first place but I assess that the one of the three with the greatest impact is this one. Art: Kimba Rizzo.
Second Place CREATIVITY
This entry from Andrea Short, is brilliant because it’s ‘performance art’ and the kids seem so tickled to be part of it. I think it brought the message that “thinking outside the box” and “the extra mile creatively” to young minds. They won’t forget it. And, Life *IS* Sweet.
Third Place SKILL
It’s not related to the Covid Quarantine thing but just wow look at that art. One of Tony Winder’s kids did this. All that effort on something that looks great but washes away next rain. This entry comes from a talented family with lots of entries. To pick one, I went with SKILL.
RUNNER UP
I REALLY liked this one. I am a die hard aquarist and I love fish, as a kid I drew them ALL THE TIME filling the margins of my school notes with drawings of fish. And this kid nails it as far as fins. And he does a very good job on shading.
As with any ‘contest’ there are people who would have picked other art and if I had to go through and select winners again I bet I’d pick differently. And if I did it a third time I’d pick differently again.
The image I used for the cover photo of this article, the flower with labelled petals, is amazing. And the “Rainbows Are Forever” was magnificent. If there were five places in the contest those would have been in the list.
The Remainder of the Entries
Kimba Art Teacher “Inching Back to Normal” 21
IMPACT “Oh the Places You’ll Go Soon” 18
“Hey Be Kind” 16
Cindy Gould “We Will Get Through This Together” 10
Andrea Short “Life is Sweet” 11 CREATIVITY
“Man on the Moon” 9
“Love Grows Here” 15
Kris Cross “Happy Earth Day” 5
Tony Winders “My son” Tiger 4 SKILL
“My daughter” Petals 2
“My youngest daughter” (geometric) 2
“Some panther fan” 2
Carol Gustafson “13yr old boy” Are You Worthy?
“Also 13 yr old boy” fish SKILL #2
“Andra Tutto Bene” Rainbows Forever
“Hakuna Mattata”
15 year “Balloon house”