Most art classes at Northwood are required to submit some of their artwork to The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, an art recognition and scholarship program that selects winners of “Gold Keys” and “Silver Keys.” Those who win a Gold Key win first place regionally and have the opportunity to move on to the national competition. Those who win a Silver Key win second place regionally.
Sophomore Silas Waller won two Gold Keys and one Silver Key in the regional competition. “Ms. Burwell told my Art II class that we should all enter our pieces into the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition, so I did that on her recommendation,” Waller said. “I also submitted some other pieces that I had done on my own time and at a camp over the summer. Those two are actually the ones that won.” One of Waller’s Gold Keys was won in the Mixed Media category, and the other was won in the Drawing and Illustration category.
“One of them was a collage with photographs of my face, which I cut up and mixed up with other magazine images, kind of like an abstract self portrait thing,” Waller said. “The other one was a colored pencil illustration of a woman with a tape measure wrapped around her waist really tight. It was called ‘Fashion Famished,’ and it was kind of like a societal protest. Waller attended a summer session at UNC School of the Arts in Winston Salem. “It was a month long, and on weekdays you have classes, so I guess it’s kind of like summer school but with all art classes,” Waller said. “I did drawing, sculpture and design.” Waller takes art classes at Northwood, but also likes to make art on his own time.
“Sometimes I just come up with stuff on my own,” Waller said. “I’ll usually sketch it out and do little drawings of it before I do the actual one, so I guess I’m probably more of a planner. But then sometimes I’ll see something that inspires me, and I’ll make it my own, and that takes less time.” Although Waller would like to use his artistic talents in a career, he is not sure about whether he will pursue art in making a living. “Art is definitely something I want to do, but I would like to do it in a way that would actually make money,” Waller said. “I’m still kind of thinking about it.” – By Katie Robbins
