It’s that time of the year again! The Scholastic Art winners have been announced; and naturally New Hartford has been a creative powerhouse at the regional level. 

The Scholastic Art Contest is a national art competition, with each state being divided into multiple regions. New Hartford is a member of the CNY division for New York, and according to Mrs. Sullivan, there were over 4,000 pieces submitted in the CNY area alone. 

As for New Hartford, 25 students reigned supreme and brought home an award. 

The ‘Golden Key’ award is the highest honor, and ‘Silver Key’ is the second highest honor. I had the pleasure of speaking of two sophomores who won ‘keys’ during the CNY judging. 

Avery Sassower, a digital artist, won both a Silver and a Golden Key. She shared that each lively piece took her anywhere from two to three hours to create. She then went on detailing why she loves digital art because she can “use tons of textures all with one brush.” This gives her the ability to try different ‘mediums,’ all with just one click of a button.

Avery was extremely humble about her awards. She revealed that she was, “pretty sure [she] had no chance of winning.” After high school Avery plans on pursuing her digital art strictly as a hobby. 

Luke Jadhon, a more ‘traditional’ artist, won a Silver Key for his colored pencil drawing. He shared that his beautifully intricate drawing took him around 40 hours to complete. He explained that with the immense workload of high school, he had to make the most of every moment of class time.

Luke’s drawing class helped him realize “how detailed and unique colored pencil drawings can be.” He was extremely grateful to have been able to take such a class in high school. He plans on taking advanced drawing, and AP Studio Art in the future.