Lucretia Van Horn Memorial Art Award

Artist: Katherine S.

School: Miller Middle School

Artwork Title: Hope in the Fracture

Artist Statement: I demonstrated the theme of “The World Around Me” by contrasting a fractured environment with the power of empathy and hope. The shattered glass and the crying faces of children represents the sharp reality of personal and global challenges. I chose these symbols to show how easily innocence can be fractured in our society. However, in the center, I placed a realistic anatomical heart blooming with flowers to show that caring provides a place of safety. The dove is my symbol of hope, representing my belief that no one should go through life’s fractures alone.

Artist: Alan C.

School: Lawson Middle School

Artwork Title: Trapped

Artist Statement: I want to submit this piece because it shows how encaging digital media has become. The piece represents the trapped feeling of being stuck within your phone screen, and I hope this brings awareness to the effort it takes to truly break away. As social media continues to expand throughout our lives, I feel that the “trapped” sentiment can be represented as becoming a statue with no way to turn back.

Artist: Megan P.

School: Miller Middle School

Artwork Title: Hidden Under the Umbrella

Artist Statement: In this artwork, I’ve chosen to focus on how much the world is constantly changing and moving forward. Our world is fast-paced, constantly fixating on new inventions or ideas. The girl in the artwork has a piece of what the world used to be hidden under her umbrella. She keeps walking in the direction the arrow points her to, but the shadow of the colorful buildings and star-flecked sky remain as a reminder. Outside of her umbrella, the world is polluted with screens that display robots or AI. The dull buildings contrast with the colorful ones, showing our world losing color.

Artist: Pushya D.

School: Miller Middle School

Artwork Title: The Abandonment of a Warning

Artist Statement: Living in the U.S., in the midst of 8th grade and an international feud between our very own U.S.A. and another country, I can’t help but tie what I’ve learned so far about the humble beginnings of the “land of opportunity,” about the legend of George Washington, to what’s happening now. When Washington was about to retire from presidency, he gave one final speech warning the nation about not being part of international wards, and I was curious what he would think of this war, so I portrayed it here.

Artist: Sanjita T.

School: Cupertino Middle School

Artist Statement: My artwork contains buildings which are painted over a series of landscapes (around the world). This signifies the fact that the nature in the world is disappearing and is slowly being replaced with technology and architecture of the world. My painting also includes different religious symbols, which talks about the diverse cultures and traditions of the world. If you have looked on the top right corner, you can spot a fighter jet shooting at a building. This shows the increasing wars around the world. In the ocean, you can find small sea turtles swimming in an area filled with waste and plastic. This conveys the fact that pollution is significantly increasing. All in all, the world around us is constantly changing, whether good like achievements to learn and understand more or bad like the increasing of pollution, wars, deforestation and negligence of the world.