WVHS art students recognized with PTA Reflections awards

Congratulations to WVHS art students Isabel Coppola (Class of 24) and Shiwoo Lee (Class of 25) on their recent awards from PTA Reflections, a program that has been honoring the work of student artists of all ages and abilities for decades.

The annual contest challenges students to reflect on a theme and then create original works of art inspired by that theme. This year’s theme was “I am hopeful because…”.

Artists are invited to submit artwork in six categories: choreography, film, literature, music, visual arts and the category to which Isabel and Shiwoo submitted, photography.

Submissions are facilitated at the local level by PTAs and art educators, and winning submissions can advance through adjudicated state-level rounds and, eventually, a national round.

Isabel received a New York State Award of Excellence for her photo entitled “Within Reach”, while Shiwoo received a New York Sate Award of Merit for his submission. Here is a list of NYS winners.

Isabel’s photograph advanced to the national round, where it was awarded with a National Award of Excellence! Here is a list of national winners. 

You can see both students’ photographs below, including the artist statement that Isabel submitted with her photo. Click the pic to enlarge!

Within Reach (Isabel Coppola)

Within Reach “I am hopeful because my future is in reach. This is not only because I have figured out the ways to push my difficulties aside, and follow the path to my success, the reason is because I have found ways to take my strengths and use them as a tool to help me carve a path for myself in the world. This piece displays a woman who is not afraid to reach her hand out into her future, which is seemingly unknown. I displayed many unique characteristics through composition, color palette, and more, while displaying hope.”

(Shiwoo Lee)