List of Visual Arts Scholastic Event Results and Student Awards

More than 100 Spring Branch ISD art students earned regional and area medals, the highest award possible, during a one-of-a-kind fine arts event that attracted thousands of high school students to Spring Woods High School.

The Visual Arts Scholastic Event, or VASE, is a unique learning experience for high school artists. Based on state and national academic standings rather than direct competition, it was created and piloted in SBISD and then adopted statewide.

During the Texas Art Education Association-sponsored VASE event, students submit artworks to certified adult jurors, many of whom are professional artists. More than 50 jurors interviewed students about their works, discussing design principles, process and problem solving, and then evaluated their work. Any student meeting the event standard received a medal.

The highest rating, a score of 4, was earned by 109 Spring Branch art students; 85 students earned the Regional Medal and 24 students qualified for the state VASE competition and received the Area Medal.

“It’s a way to improve your work and presentation,” Spring Woods High junior Raul Tenorio says. The Advanced Placement art student who likes engineering submitted “Pink Flowers,” a delightful springlike acrylic work, which won him his third Regional Medal.

“It’s fun to talk to a judge about art in general, or to talk about an individual piece with somebody who actually understands and knows what art is all about,” the talented student adds.

VASE was created 12 years ago under the direction of SBISD Art Coordinator Gloria McCoy. “We piloted the pilot and the first regional event in the state. Now VASE events take place across the state in every major city and in many smaller rural areas – from Pecos to Corpus Christi,” she says.

SBISD will host the regional event for two years. The Feb. 24 event at Spring Woods High School, 2045 Gessner, attracted about 2,000 students and more than 100 teachers from about a dozen public school districts, including Alief, Cypress Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Katy and Houston ISDs.

District art teachers, joined by Spring Woods High administrators and teachers, hosted the daylong event. Campus art teachers Crystal Kinney, who was site director, and Megan Berger, a first-year teacher, helped manage the high visibility event.

For Crystal Kinney, the event was a full-circle homecoming in another way, too. “I went through a VASE event as a student at Abilene High School and now I’m taking my own students to VASE as an art teacher,” she says.

posted 03-09-07