Juneau-Douglas High School sent seven exceptional student artists to the annual Region V Art Fest on April 7-11. Katie Buchanan, Toma Kimlinger, Summer Putman, Meg Kurland, Skye VanValin, Ryan Moritz, and Brianna Frisby represented JDHS soundly, taking many awards at this competitive visual arts event.
Best of Workshop awards went to Katie Buchanan for her bentwood box, and for her peacock yeti soft sculpture in the mythical creatures workshop; Summer Putman for her Mother’s Day calligraphy; Meg Kurland for her paper-clay sculpture “Elephant in the Room.”
Honorable Workshop Mentions went to Ryan Moritz for Landscape Painting, Summer Putnam for Alder Spoon Carving, Brianna Frisby for beading and Seagrass Weaving, and Toma Kimlinger for taking full advantage of the Stained Glass class.
All workshop awards are issued by the workshop instructors, but the felting teacher was too overwhelmed with all the fine work in her class to choose. Come see Skye’s wizard hat and Toma’s slippers and bag in the JDHS Commons display, along with all the work students created in 30 hours of studio time and instruction over four days.
Workshops culminate in a big group show, hosted at Kirmse’s Gallery this year, where all Art Fest work competes. Ryan Moritz won first place of all artwork Region V students brought from home with his blue bear chalk pastel on suede board.
People’s Choice Award went to Meg Kurland for an bentwood box with Northwest Coast jellyfish design painted in acrylics.
The prestigious Kirk Garbisch Award for excellence and creativity went to Skye VanValin for her paper-clay sculpture of a goat of considerable character. Kirk Garbisch was the founder of ArtFest, as the Wrangell Art teacher in 1997.
Best of Overall Student Artwork at the show went to Wrangell sophomore Zeqe Gillan for a detailed Northwest Coast Wolf design on a finely carved alderwood spoon.
All Art Fest participants worked hard and did their best to make Skagway glad they hosted this year, and the community of Skagway impressed all with their generosity and thoughtful planning. Donna Griffard, a Skagway Art Fest coordinator, received the Rick Mills Spirit of Artfest Award for her hard work. Next year’s Art Fest is scheduled for Petersburg, and 2018 is scheduled for Craig. Juneau Art Club students work hard all year to fund their own travel and registration fees, not to mention producing artwork worthy of Region V competition.
If you’d like to help host Art Fest in Juneau, 2019, by teaching a workshop, organizing the event, or housing visiting students and instructors, please contact the JDHS Art Teacher at heather.ridgway@juneauschools.org.
