MOSCOW — Two Silver Valley high school students were recently recognized for their submissions into the University of Idaho’s high school art exhibition.

Each year, UI’s College of Art and Architecture hosts this event to showcase the artistic talent of high school-age students across the state.

Normally held in-person at UI’s Moscow campus, concerns of COVID-19 forced this year’s 29th annual exhibition to look a little different.

The university received 220 submissions from participants across the state of Idaho this year, with the furthest submission coming from Buhl. Students first had to send in a picture of their work, then later mailed in the work itself for closer inspection. All the pieces were then photographed again to be included in this year’s online exhibit.

“We look forward to celebrating the artistic talents of our participants,” said Delphine Keim, professor in the College of Art and Architecture’s Art + Design program. “The challenge in taking the exhibition online was to create a format that showcases and honors the thoughtful work of the students and teachers.”

While all the artwork was submitted digitally, mediums ranged from pencil and paint to ceramics and mixed media collage.

Both Kellogg and Wallace Jr./Sr. High School contributed to the exhibit this year and one student from each school even received praise in the contest portion of the event.

KHS senior Serenity Waide and WHS sophomore Mycah Atkins both received honorable mentions for their paintings.

With this year’s exhibit theme being “EARTH: Concepts on Climate,” students were encouraged to share their observations and reflections on the issue through their own creative expression.

At Kellogg High School, Waide and the rest of Rachael Krusemark’s art class embraced a unique angle for their submission this year.

“This year we had an idea of doing an entire collaborative piece in the sense where all of my students committed to painting on 2-foot by 3-foor ceiling tiles,” Krusemark said.

The goal was to have all the tiles placed into the ceiling of the same classroom. With the science-based theme this year, Krusemark’s class decided to place the tiles in a science class. KHS science teacher Jennifer Yasen was more than happy to oblige.

Once the works were completed and submitted to UI, the tiles were placed into the ceiling of the classroom — where they can now be seen by anyone who enters and looks up.

“All my students were fine with creating something they didn’t get to keep because it’s now part of the school,” Krusemark said.

Krusemark incorporates the annual art exhibit into her curriculum for her advanced art class and requires them to create a piece that could be submitted.

As for Waide’s climate-themed piece “Save the Bees,” she explained that her initial inspiration to paint it was the wanting to have something colorful, but that also had a powerful meaning behind it too.

It was only later that she chose to put the spotlight on bees.

“The bee theme came to me randomly like all my other pieces, my ideas always come to me when I least expect it,” she said. “I wanted to make everyone aware that without the bees, we wouldn’t have vegetables, fruit, flowers and trees. Bees are an important part of the circle of life.”

She spent countless hours on the piece, especially when it came to working on the petals for the flowers. The petals are made of foam with acrylic on top and the bees wings are made of laminated tissue paper.

Even though she had joked to her dad the night before she found out that she might win, she was completely shocked when it actually happened.

Waide was sure to acknowledge her art teacher for her role in the accomplishment.

“I want to thank Ms. Krusemark for helping make my impossible ideas come to life,” she said.

At Wallace Jr./Sr. High School, Atkins entered an acrylic painting into the showcase that she titled “Mother Earth,” which also was awarded an honorable mention designation.

Atkins used some ideas from previous projects that she had completed and with the showcase’s theme of Earth and climate, so she had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to do.

“I decided to base my painting on Mother Nature and how nature has such an impact on our day-to-day lives,” Atkins said.

Atkins doesn’t consider herself an artist, which led to her experiencing a little nervousness when it came time for her painting to be judged, but that changed when she found out she had received an award.

“I was definitely nervous for my art to be judged because I know that I am not a ‘Top-Shelf’ artist,” Atkins said. “When I found out that I got an honorable mention, I was confused at first but it turned into excitement very fast.”

The painting took Atkins just a week to complete, but she used every available moment that she had during that week, both at school and at home, to get the painting done.

Some paintings take artists weeks and even longer to complete, so while Atkins may not consider herself a top-shelf artist — there is no denying that she is incredibly talented.

“I’ve always loved art, but I got really into it during my sixth-grade year at Kellogg Middle School,” Atkins said. “Ever since then, art has been a big part of my life.”

As just a sophomore, Atkins still has two years left to improve her skills in the controlled environment that Katie Lund’s art class can provide,

“I was thrilled to learn that Mycah won this award,” Lund said. “She did an excellent job planning and executing her artwork. Mycah would agree that sometimes the art-making process is full of frustration and uncertainty, and she persevered to create a thoughtful and engaging painting.”

To see all 220 submissions from all the Idaho schools, visit https://delphine860.wixsite.com/uidahohsart2020/award-winners.