Each year, the Daily Herald, in partnership with the District 214 Arts Unlimited Program, sponsors a community-wide competition for art and creative writing. Elk Grove students proved their skills by taking all three art awards.

Senior Paris Hunsaker was motivated by her art teacher to participate.

“This is my first competition I ever got in. I went in it because my teacher said we should all go in it,” Hunsaker said.

Seniors Haley Gorski, Emma Pierce and Hunsaker took first, second and third place respectively.

Art teacher Jennifer Aguilar-Iannotti guided Gorski in designing her pencil-drawn still-life “Whit Rotary”. The piece was largely composed of reflective objects.

“It started as just a still-life that I set up, but then my teacher Aguilar told me that I should do mirrors in the background,” Gorski said. “She showed me this other student’s work, and she did all mirrors in the background. I was like, ‘I’d like to try to do that,’ and I did.”

Hunsaker’s piece “Untitled”, in contrast, was an oil painting of the front part of her face. This work was a part of Hunsaker’s 12 piece concentration that differed slightly front the rest of the works.

“It’s inspired by my piece, my concentration for art class. Everyone in art class has a concentration; that’s what they have to do twelve pictures on,” Hunsaker said. “It’s basically twelve pictures based on one central idea. My central idea is myself in different positions in life to imagine how I’d be in different situations. In this piece, I didn’t really do that. I didn’t put myself in a different situation. I kind of just did my face; I don’t know why”

Although Gorski and Hunsaker differed in their artworks’ mediums, they have very similar goals for their future in art. Hunsaker will be attended University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana where she will be studying art. Likewise, Gorksi plans to actively use art in her future.

“Art is my intended major, and I am hoping to go into product design or industrial design,” Gorski said.

By: Katie Weber