Wallkill Valley students win awards at ArtRox virtual show

Junior art students at Wallkill Valley Regional High School won awards at the ArtRox Virtual Art Show held on Feb. 25.

The art show was sponsored by Roxbury High School in Succusanna, N.J. Thirty middle school art entries from four middle schools in the area and 174 high school art entries from 16 high schools in the area were submitted for the show. Each middle school was able to submit eight pieces of art, and each high school was able to submit 12 pieces of art.

The Wallkill Valley students who participated are taught by Amy Fairweather, fine arts instructor.

Fiona Cummings won third place in the sculpture category. Her sculpture titled “Morning Sun” was a mixed metal repoussage. Fiona said her piece “was inspired by my favorite time of day, when the sun rises. I thought it would be cool to recreate that with different shapes. I want to keep pursuing art because it is a nice creative outlet and makes me happy.”

Kristina Leonard won second place in the open category for her magazine collage titled “Tracks of the Unknown.”

“What inspired me to do this collage was the beauty that we see every day in nature,” Kristina said. “So many people walk through this world and ignore the true beauty around us.”

Artist of Promise Scholarships

Fairweather said three students were awarded Artist of Promise Scholarships to the University of Hartford Art School for the fall of 2022: Coco Lin, Fiona Cummings, and Aileen Martinez. These scholarships are $21,000 a year for all four years for each student.

“My ‘Minty Fresh’ watercolor painting was inspired by my art teacher, Ms. Amy Fairweather, who showed me that art exists everywhere through an ‘Interesting Space’ project,” said Coco. “I do not plan on pursuing art as a career at this time, but art will always play an important part in my life.”

Fairweather said she is “incredibly proud of all the Wallkill art students who continue to push themselves to find creative ways to be successful. Our students are doing it — they are pushing through all the difficulties of these times to make art a priority in school and in their lives. It is a privilege to be part of their artistic journey and I so look forward to the day when we can all be back ‘home’ together in our studios at Wallkill.”