The Denver Art Museum is one of the largest art museums between the east and west coast. The DAM is home to art from all over the world and a total of 70,000 diverse cultures shown. Palmer Ridge High School, a public high school in Monument, Colorado, is home to athletes, artists, and students. Several artists at Palmer Ridge submitted their art to a regional art competition and were successful! After these artists had a victorious time at the regional art show, their work went to a state-wide competition, The Scholastic Art Awards. With over 5,000 pieces entered into the competition each year, Palmer Ridge is extremely honored to have nine students recognized, five of whom earned a Gold Key. Students who earn a Gold Key Award, the highest level of recognition in the state, will have the opportunity to have their works presented in the Denver Art Museum for a panel of national judges to look at and enjoy. Sydney Livingston (11), a Gold Key recipient, is extremely excited and honored to receive such a high award. “It feels great to be selected for the golden key,” said Livingston. I didn’t think that was going to happen. My whole family is jazzed about it. Livingston’s piece, ‘Sunny Ennui’, is a colored pencil drawing of her own face. When asked about her creative name, Livingston recalled that “I had a vocab quiz that week and ennui was a word on the test and I couldn’t come up with anything else.” 

Iz Cotton (12), both a Gold Key and Silver Key recipient, talked in great detail about their prized piece, one they call ‘The City of Meat’. “The gold key drawing for scholastics is a marker and pen piece that I did in drawing 2 last year. It was a fun prompt about making a gumball machine that doesn’t dispense gumballs and I made it dispense teeth and it kind of spiraled off from there.” said Cotton. Overall, Cotton is very excited about the chance to go to the DAM, overjoyed about the opportunity for their “… work to be seen by so many different people.”

Another Gold Key recipient for Film Photography, Lily Freier (10), mentioned that finding inspiration for her photo was very difficult. “The assignment was to create a character,” said Freier. “My sister was a clown for Halloween and I just decided to use her. It was the easiest thing to come up with and she was just walking in my backyard and it looked really cool so I just got a picture of it.” That picture, called ‘Clown in a Field’ was one of two Film Photography projects selected, the other done by Katie Valdois (12) with her piece called ‘Ignoring the Signs’.

All of the Drawings will be displayed at the Denver Art Museum from Feb.1st- March 7th and Photography and 3D work will be displayed at the 40 West Gallery from Feb. 1st- 26th. Honorable Mentions will also be displayed at all locations. The artworks that qualify for the next round will head to a nationwide competition in New York City. Perri Davis, Palmer Ridge Art teacher, said that she is very proud of all her students. “It is super awesome, I am really excited for them and it is so nice to have your work recognized. There are so many wonderful artists here, even some kids I do not get to see in classes and you can do so much with that creative edge. “

Congratulations to all those who were selected as a part of the Scholastic Art Program!

City of Meat, Gold Key, Marker Drawing – Iz Cotton (12)

Monsters of Man, Nature’s Beasts, Silver Key, Marker Drawing – Iz Cotton (12)

The Autopsy, Gold Key, Digital Photography – Reyna Edling (11)

Clown in a Field, Gold Key, Film Photography – Lily Freier (10)

Organic Jewelry Box, Honorable Mention, Wooden Sculpture – Bennett Henderson (10)

Sunny Ennui, Gold Key, Colored Pencil Drawing – Sydney Livingston (11)

Obychophagia, Honorable Mention, Charcoal Drawing – Peyton Moler (11)

Fun of Homework, Honorable Mention, Film Photography – Kameron Schad (11)

Ignoring the Signs, Gold Key, Film Photography – Katie Valdois (12)