Annual FCHS art show features variety

By Page H. Gifford
Correspondent

Four members from the Fluvanna Art Association – Linda Mullin, Linda Staiger, Carol Sorber, and Deborah Nixon – judged many talented student artists at the annual Fluvanna County High School Art School Show on May 2. In all, they judged students’ artwork in 24 categories.

“There were so many talented artists represented in the Fluco show that it was difficult to choose the winners,” said Sorber. “I enjoyed seeing the extraordinary variety of techniques, media, and subjects. I hope these talented young artists continue to find inspiration and joy from creating new art.”

Most of the categories focused on less traditional art and more on mixed media such as 3-D, computer-generated, and digital. But photography, watercolor, pastel,  graphite, printing, and colored pencils were still popular.

“I can’t express how many of the young people were such great artists. I enjoyed all the wonderful categories. It was a difficult task picking the winners, so many were very good,” said Mullin.

Nixon added, “I was impressed. The art was wonderful.” She and Sorber arrived first and took the moment to walk through the entire show to see if anything popped out. “For me, it was one in particular, the one that got best in show. Four of us narrowed the choice down to three or four from all of the first-place winners. And we’ve been all picking the same one.”

The winner of Best in Show was Jayden Hoy for his bold and colorful tempera batik of a parrot. Art teacher and department chair Michele Coleman picked Juliana Hubbard for Coleman’s Choice. The photograph depicting a path winding through fall leaves on the ground captured the light perfectly, setting a warm mood. Yet the student played with some deep blues and purples to add that something extra that made it stand out.

Alex Swingle’s clay mask won first in the clay category, resembling a primitive warrior mask, with carved wooden grain and metal. He grasps the feeling of an ancient culture in his design.

Meredith Hudgins won first for her ink-wash painting of an old Victorian house. The house has that rickety feeling and is the essence of age with its gingerbread architectural details. Art should try to tell a story and Hudgins does it with the house.

Julia Tomaras’ bright flowers in watercolor, pen, and ink are joyful and vibrant and won first for watercolor while Juno Gonzalez won second for his digital abstract collage of animals.