Winners of the 15th annual Wallkill Invitational Art Show reception were recognized Dec. 10 at Wallkill Valley Regional High School.
A Photo Expo was held at the school on the same evening.
A total of more than $1.8 million in scholarships was awarded to high school students participating in the art show.
In the Photo Expo, Jonathan Rojas-Cortes’ entry, an abstract image of a shadow of family, won the Paul Michael Kane Award with a $200 cash prize.
Natalie Weaver’s entry, a serene image of a stack of balanced rocks, won the Best in Show award with 133 votes. Second place went to Lou Sheets for a silhouetted landscape and third place to Kayla Parker for her portrait of a leaf.
Faculty and staff were invited to vote for their favorite image. The staff choice award went to Grace Carr for her snowy landscape and the people’s choice award to Gil Henriquez for his vibrant sunset.
For the art show, high schools in the region were invited to submit 10 works of art by students and middle schools were asked to submit five.
Participating high schools were Delaware Valley, High Point, Kittatinny, Montville, Mount Olive, Roxbury, Vernon, Wallkill Valley, Warren Hills, Warwick Valley and West Milford. Middle schools that submitted works were Eisenhower, Franklin, Hardyston, Lazar, Ogdensburg and Warwick Valley.
The judges were photographer Paul Michael Kane, Raechel Bihler of Peter’s Valley School of Craft, Aimee Dolich of Savannah College of Art and Design, Roxy Ryan of Hartford Art School and Alaina Bailey of Moore College of Art.
Art honor society officers and students in the AP Studio Art class at Wallkill Valley judged the middle school division.
Middle School Division winners:
1st place: From Warwick Middle School, Grayce Miceli with “Eagle Portrait.”
2nd place: From Lazar Middle School, tie between Carter Riley with “Landscape” and Jake Proscia with “Tonal Landscape.”
3rd place: From Lazar, Sanvi Bilhalli Narendra with “Dragon Eye.”
The winner of the teachers’ choice for Best in Show is Kylie Van Allen of Ogdensburg with “Delaware River.”
The winner of students’ choice for Best in Show is Blaire Corter of Kittatinny Junior High School for “Sir Elton John.”
High School Division winners:
Painting:
1st place: From Delaware, Maya Zhivkovich with “Grief, A Mother’s Embrace.”
2nd place: From Vernon, Nikki Knarr with “Untitled.”
3rd place: From Roxbury, Elysha Magat for “Regression.”
For Drawing/Illustration Black & White:
1st place: From Roxbury, Rianna Attieh with “It’s Easy to Pretend.”
2nd place: From Wallkill Valley, Sammy Barbato with “Stardust.”
3rd place: From Mount Olive, Cassandra Mezzina with “A Study in Black and White.”
For Drawing/Illustration Color:
1st place: From Roxbury, Elysha Magat with “The Kiss of Salvation.”
2nd place: From Wallkill Valley, Riley Simon with “In the Blink of a Mare.”
3rd place: From Warwick, Maya Fong with “Crew.”
For Photography:
1st place: From Wallkill Valley, Elias Wosneski with “502.”
2nd place: From Wallkill Valley, Caleb DelGuidice with “Silo 10.”
3rd place: From Mount Olive, Isabella Guzman with “Selective Color.”
For Digital Media/Video:
1st place: From Delaware Valley, Abbeygale Hahn with “Self Portrait.”
2nd place: From Vernon, Olivia Wood with “Above the Clouds.”
3rd place: From Vernon, Annie Gilmore with “Untitled.”
For 2D Mixed Media/Open:
1st place: From Wallkill Valley, Marcus Bui with “Leaning on the Edge.”
2nd place: From Warren Hills, Angel Gomez-Palacios with “Neon Requiem.”
3rd place: From Roxbury, Gianna Borelly with “Nomad.”
For 3D Media Sculptural:
1st place: From High Point, Julia Longcor with “You Live and You Learn.”
2nd place: From Kittatinny, Ireland Balma with “Pottery Protector.”
3rd place: From West Milford, Mia Church with “Bubbles.”
For 3D Media Functional:
1st place: From Wallkill Valley, Suelin Wong with “Self- Embracement.”
2nd place: From Wallkill Valley, Gillian Ortiz with “Interlocked.”
3rd place: From High Point, Addison Selby with “Moment of Serenity.”
For Fine Crafts:
1st place: From Delaware Valley, Rex Simpson with “Bound Orb.”
2nd place: From Wallkill Valley, Winter Kowalewski with “Wavy.”
The High School Best In Show Award went to Suelin Wong of Wallkill Valley for “Self Embracement.”
Scholarship awards:
• Raechel Bihler of Peter’s Valley School of Craft awarded the Workshop Scholarship worth $810 to Suelin Wong of Wallkill Valley.
• Aimee Dolich of Savannah College of Art and Design awarded a summer seminar workshop scholarship to Maya Zhivkovich of Delaware Valley.
• Roxy Ryan of Hartford Art School awarded four $25,000-a-year scholarships to Marcus Bui from Wallkill and Dafina Konushevci, both of Wallkill Valley; Mia Yang of West Milford; and Lauren Soehnlein of Montville.
• Alaina Bailey of Moore College of Art awarded $25,000-a-year to Rianna Attieh and Elysha Magat, both of Roxbury; Ashley Ruszkiewicz and Dania Barillas, both of Warwick Valley; Abigail DeYoung of Vernon; Lauren Soehlein of Montville; Riley Simon, Amanda Barone and Suelin Wong, all of Wallkill Valley; Angel Gomez-Palacios of Warren Hills; Mia Yang of West Milford; Julia Moskal of High Point; and Ireland Balman of Kittatinny Regional High School.
