Exonians Awarded Scholastic National Prizes
Exonians have once again impressed at the 2015 Scholastic Art & Writing Competition and have won recognition for over 60 pieces at the regional and national level. Students won awards in a variety of categories, ranging from ceramics to fashion to mixed media to memoirs. Among those recognized regionally, five won national medals.
“We’ve been delighted by the success of Exeter students in the Scholastic Art Awards over the last few years,” Art Department chair Tara Misenheimer said. “This year stands out for the broad diversity of the work—including fashion entries for the first time—and the level of sophistication of the pieces. The sheer number of art pieces recognized for outstanding merit is astonishing.”
Lower Carissa Chen won gold for her painting, “Self-Portrait: Cultural Anesthesia,” “Diptych,” and silver for her painting, “Oblivion on the Styx: A Self-Portrait of My Funeral.” Lower Athena Gerasoulis achieved gold for her personal essay/memoir, “The Summer of Tea Leaves” and gold for her flash fiction, “The Things I Wanted Most.” Upper Michaela Nickerson won gold for her drawing, “Guess Who” and senior Molly Bolan achieved silver with distinction for her art portfolio, “Where the Light Leaks.” Lower Gwendolyn Wallace won silver and the prestige of the American Voices Medal for her poem, “Dirt.” The honor of Scholastic Art & Writing awards requires hard work, talent and sometimes a little bit of help. Academy teachers were more than willing to aid students in their endeavors. With the Academy’s setup for English and art classes, many students found themselves creating pieces in class that they would eventually submit to the Scholastic competition.
“If you can give images and language to experiences and people previously oppressed from it, you can make the world a better and more honest place.”
Gerasoulis was one of these students; she wrote both of her pieces during the spring of her prep year as narratives for her English class. Over the summer and following fall, she spent a few hours here and there to tweak and edit the pieces. She also sought help from a few lower year English teachers. Other Exonian Scholastic participants followed a similar process. For most Exonians who participated in the competition, it wasn’t about the hopes of an award or money, but simply about sharing what they had so excitedly learned. Bolan said that she had actually forgotten that she had submitted a piece and winning came as a “neat surprise.”
Bolan’s favorite part of her project was working with and learning about photography and the lens. She first worked on her submission, “Where the Light Leaks,” in her photography class, prior to which she had no experience with film photography. She instantly fell in love with “the imperfections of film photography,” created by “light [leaking] through a pinhole camera and exposing little slices of the film.”
The project inspired Bolan to see the world through a “new lens” as she realized that the greater beauties in the world are in the most mundane objects. Through her project, she hoped to share and emphasize the importance of this discovery. For others, entering the competition meant pushing themselves one step further and paving time for a passion that can be easily dropped in times of distraction. “I use [Scholastic] as an incentive to improve and try my best, and a little competition is great to spice things up,” Gerasoulis said. “I often think that writing is lost a lot in the busy world that is today, and Scholastic Art and Writing Awards allocates some time for you to focus on what you are truly passionate about.”
Ubiquitous among all Exonian participants was the desire to further their passions. For Chen, this passion has been cultivated at Exeter. Her nation gold medal winning painting, “Cultural Anesthesia,” has toured internationally for art. Thus far, Chen’s piece has been showcased in Times Square, Carnegie Hall, the Rhode Island School of Design museum, the Pratt Museum and the Warhol Museum. According to Chen, “‘Cultural Anesthesia’ is a reflection on plastic surgery and the discourse on how our culture promotes an emphasis on beauty.”
Chen, like other artists, uses art as a means to express her views and thoughts about injustice in society. In “Cultural Anesthesia,” Chen hoped to address the “emphasis on beauty that has become an epidemic.” With more than 80 percent of young women in Korea getting double eyelid surgery, or celebrities acting as role models to young girls by encouraging them to change their appearance, beauty identification is a major problem in current society. In addition to challenging the “beauty crisis,” Chen said that the painting acts like a self-reflection. “It’s often easy to numb and detach yourself from uncomfortable topics or ideas,” Chen said. “This painting forced me to question my own past through paintings.”
The inspiration for “Cultural Anesthesia” began at a young age. “Growing up, I faced a lot of pressure for plastic surgery on my own eyelids,” Chen explained. When kids at school would joke about having small eyes, it stung for Chen. “Sometimes I would use my fingernail to carve a face with a double eyelid, imagining what I’d look like.” This portrait helped her view herself as beautiful, regardless of her eye shape, and set a precedent for confronting uncomfortable issues. “Confronting a culture of pressure against women and my own past made this painting both a journey for my own growth, but a method for vulnerability,” Chen said. “This is the most honest view I could paint myself.”
The awards themselves have affected the recipients in positive ways. For some, it has motivated them to continue to do what they love. “The win itself doesn't mean as much to me, but the fact that writing is getting more recognized in the world definitely makes me very happy,” Gerasoulis said. “This also gives me a lot of hope and determination to get better and better at writing in the future, and to never give up on what I love.” For others, knowing that their work has strength has convinced them that they can make a big impact through their work. Exonians are headed toward great potential, and many hope to harness such potential toward bettering the world around them. Chen, for example, will continue to create pieces with messages in hopes of inspiring those who see it and making a change in the world.
“If you can give images and language to experiences and people previously oppressed from it, you can make the world a better and more honest place,” Chen said.