Rebecca Bobrow ’11
Opinions Editor

She started with a catalogue of over 7,000 images that she captured with her Nikon D200 camera. She needed to narrow them down to eight. Although Carlyn Vellante ’10 struggled with the elimination process, her selections were good enough to win her a gold award at the annual Scholastic Art Awards.

Six other Staples students were also recognized.

Inspiration comes from many places: the unexpected, the ordinary, and the abstract. The seven Staples honorees of Scholastic Art Awards found inspiration in the everyday entities that non-artists may not be able distinguish. Their inspiration came from light, the human thought process, and even simple colors. Using these ordinary parts of life as their guides, they created works of art.

“My work is inspired by what’s going on around me, I fill my sketchbook with drawings of people and things in my life,” said Becky Ross ’10, winner of an honorable mention for drawing.

Vellante’s portfolio “Luminescence,” is series of photographs that depict a model interacting with gleaming lights. Vellante explains that the light is the “representation of something that is accessible to all; how people have the choice to interpret it as a burden or embrace it.” She was inspired by the journeys of people and how light moves though them and with them.

Although many of the submitted pieces were art class assignments, the students were encouraged to find their own inspiration within the given composition and to really make it their own. Connie Zhou ’12, who won a silver award for a still life featuring household items and fruit, did just that – by finding inspiration in the intricacy of colors.

“In general, I think the mood a combination of colors creates is really powerful and I strive to capture that mood in my artwork,” she said.

Inspiration is the result of enormous effort, and the artists spent countless hours creating work they were proud of. For Vellante, the eight photographs she chose to incorporate in her portfolio took her numerous hour-long photo shoots over the course of about one semester to complete. Her time and effort paid off, as she is now in the company of a few of the greats; past gold award winners include Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon. Vellante says she “feels so accomplished to follow in the footsteps of those magnificent artists.”

Owen Karrel ’12, winner of an honorable mention, estimates that it took him two months worth of class periods to finalize every detail he included in his drawing of a skeleton. He deems it one of his “more polished pieces.”

Of all the drawings Zhou completed first semester in advanced drawing, she felt her final choice really showcased the culmination of the skills she honed during the course and decided it would be the right drawing to submit.

“It means a lot to me that others appreciate my artwork,” Zhou says of winning a Scholastic Award.

The 21st annual Scholastic Art Awards, part of the National Scholastic Art Awards, was held by The Connecticut Art Education Association, which strives to recognize and honor “creative excellence” in young artists. Staples artists were both recognized and honored, winning collectively, a gold award, a silver award, and five honorable mentions.