MILLTOWN — Nine Saint Mark’s students have been recognized with the Delaware Regional Scholastic Art Awards. Two of those students earned Gold Key status, which sends their pieces on to the national round of judging. National winners will be announced in April.
The Gold Key winners are Emily Brown and Lilly Weisenfels. Brown, nominated for her acrylic painting, created a self-portrait entitled “Strain.” It portrays the effects of excessive use of phones, particularly on social media.
“It’s supposed to represent how barriers are created around us as a society to the outside world as we’re so fixated on our phones,” she said. “It shows the broken bonds of real human connections.”
Brown said she spent about a month painting her piece. She is self-taught.
Weiselfels was nominated for digital photography. “Quiet Time” was taken at Antelope Canyon in Arizona using a tripod.
“I was inspired by the idea that the world is so much bigger than just us. In our daily lives, we tend to focus on all the small difficulties and challenges in our lives, even though we are just one small piece of the world and there is so much more to focus on,” she said.
Silver key winners include Charley Fockler, ceramics and glass; Tess Palm, photography; and Peyton Wilkes, photography. Honorable mention went to Wilkes, photography; Emerson Abbott, ceramics and glass; Kara Hrycak, ceramics and glass; and Palm, photography.
