LA student artists Luke Tan ’24 and Heidi Pan ’24 earned multiple prizes at the recent Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Luke’s photography submissions garnered five Honorable Mentions, one Silver Key, and two Gold Keys. Gold Key awards move onto the National level for judging. Luke also received an Honorable Mention for a dramatic script that he submitted for the writing portion.
“I’m very happy that my photography has been recognized! I’ve developed quite a bit in my art since last year, so these awards serve as a sort of benchmark to get another opinion on my work,” Luke said. “As an artist, I recognize that that art is very subjective, but I will take this as positive encouragement to keep growing and creating art. Thank you to Mr. Sullivan for also giving his input even though I’m not in his class!"
Heidi earned an honorable mention for an editorial cartoon sponsored by The Herb Block Foundation. She created her artwork using digital brushes that mimic charcoal, pencil, and pastels to create a messy style. She called the work “as messy as the current conversation surrounding climate change policy. I found myself reinventing my art style entirely in this project's process.”
In her first political cartoon, Heidi was seeking to “spark a rethinking of how we've come to passively respond to the issue of climate change and environmental degradation.” In her continued efforts to raise awareness, Heidi used the caption “You Know the Drill” written in a font mimicking crude oil to comment on how society has become desensitized to climate change.
“It is imperative that we continue to fight against normalizing inaction and I'm grateful this piece received some recognition and may inspire conversations and bring greater awareness,” Heidi said.