When you see Raven Kinnetz’s award-winning work of art, you might get a little hungry. This is no wonder considering it is a picture of a tasty-looking cupcake. Raven’s piece is not only delicious looking, but was also impressive enough to take home an award from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Raven is a senior at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows High School. She says she has been interested in art and drawing since she could hold a pencil. Her dad is an artist, and she has always drawn for fun. Eventually, she had a chance to take art classes in school.
Last semester, in her independent studio art class, Raven was working to hone her skills as an artist. She had chosen the theme of desserts. Raven said about the theme, “I like dessert and there are a variety of things to draw with different textures.”
She set to work on a fun piece of work featuring a super-realistic cupcake drawn with colored pencils. “I chose to create this work of art because I wanted to learn how to draw more realistically with colored pencils and have always wanted to draw food with a lot of detail,” Raven said.
She had 15 class periods to work on the project. Raven added that she got a lot of help from her art teacher, Heather Walker. Walker helped her work on her layering methods and introduced her to a blending pencil, which Raven says is now her “new best friend.” Both student and teacher thought the project turned out very well.
Another person who noticed how well Raven’s cupcake turned out is Tanja Jensen, the CGD Talented and Gifted (TAG) Director. Jensen keeps her eye on unique opportunities for TAG students. “I’m always looking for opportunities to showcase our students’ many talents,” emphasized Jensen. With that in mind, she encouraged Raven to enter an art contest that Walker had made her students aware of.
The Scholastic Art and Writing Award is a nationwide contest. According to their website, artandwriting.org, these awards are presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. The Alliance is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “identify students with exceptional artistic and literary talent and present their remarkable work to the world through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.” Last year, students across America entered nearly 320,000 original works in 28 different categories of art and writing.
With Jensen’s encouragement, Raven entered the contest in December. She had to send in a photo of her “Cupcake” piece as well as an artist statement. The awards’ website notes that students’ entries are judged by some of the foremost leaders in the visual and literary arts.
Just a couple of weeks ago, they received word that Raven was awarded a Silver Award for her Cupcake. Jensen noted that only 7% to 10% of student artists receive that honor. Raven admits that she was surprised but happy to receive the award.
Both of her teachers were also pleased with her accomplishment. Walker stressed, “It has been a pleasure to watch Raven draw these last four years. She’s super committed and spends a lot of time on her work. With this award, students can see what happens when you work hard.”
Jensen added, “Raven’s accomplishment gives students an opportunity to show kids that you can achieve these big goals.”
Raven confirmed that she plans to keep drawing and creating art in the future, even though she might not be taking art classes. After she graduates, Raven plans to attend NIACC to play basketball. She will then move on to a four-year school.
Walker stressed that it is great to see students like Raven “taking a chance, working hard, and committing to whatever makes them happy.”
