Boyceville art students find fun, friendship in creative expression
By Cara L. Dempski
BOYCEVILLE — If the students in art teacher Mia Van der Paardt’s classroom are any indication, the visual arts are alive and well in Boyceville.
Van der Paardt took her 13-person Visual Arts team to UW-Madison last Thursday afternoon to compete in the 2017 Visual Arts Classic held April 7. The competition is sponsored by the Wisconsin Art Educators Association as a way to teach students about art, work as part of a team, and taking risks in solving problems.
Teams participate as a unit in quiz bowl and critical thinking tasks. This year, students on teams around the state needed to do research on 12 different Wisconsin artists for the quiz bowl competition. Each team performs a skit during the critical thinking competition. Teams are given prompts and problems to be solved, and have to develop a script, props, and costumes for their performance.
The team took second in quiz bowl and first in critical thinking to win the overall regional competition and the trip to state.
Individuals complete with a long-term individual project, but are limited to a list of items to use, and have to respond to a prompt provided in the fall. They can also earn team points at competitions by completing short-term projects. Often, these are based on the long-term pieces created, but expand on the idea or prompt and use different materials.
Abigail Erickson, who competed in the ceramics division as an individual, said being on the visual arts team is a lot of fun, but does have its challenges.
“It can be stressful,” Erickson explained.
Her teammate, Erica Sempf, said once the stress of competition wears off, meeting new people and seeing what other young artists have created is a lot of fun.
The two girls were required to do long-term projects of vessels decorated in the very delicate style of Wisconsin artist Susan Frackelton, who decorated her pieces with botanical designs and were often done in shades of blue.
Their short-term projects at the UW-Stout regional competition needed to be inspired by the style of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie school, or something Wisconsin is famous for. Both Erickson and Sempf selected things Wisconsin was famous for, with Erickson completing a sculpture related to author Laura Ingalls Wilder and Sempf creating a beer glass based on the style of an artist who creates pieces using logos from Wisconsin industry.
Shawna Gove chose to work in the “personal adornment” category, which entails making items that could be used as outfit accessories or protective clothing items. She made a pair of moccasins for her long-term project, but completed a small clutch purse/pouch at the regional visual arts competition.
“It’s hard,” Gove said. “You have to hand sew everything. We got some suede so it was a little easier, but my fingers still hurt.”
Emily Voelker was limited to pieces measuring only 8.5 inches by 11 inches for drawing, and had to bring black and white and color media to regional competition. Her short term project included making a coloring book cover based off her long-term pieces.
Caleb Hagen and Tyler Krueger compete in digital photography, and enjoyed working in the medium. Hagen said students could choose between digital photography and traditional photography, but he chose digital because there was more he could do with the medium.
Van der Paardt expressed pride in her students and their accomplishments. Information on the Visual Arts Classic website indicates the Boyceville team did not place in the top three as a team, and comments on individual performances were not made available prior to printing.