Olympics of Visual Arts 5th graders were full of excitement the day after the competition in Saratoga Springs. The two groups–architecture and fashion–had placed first and third respectively. The competition, which BCSD has been attending for 16 years, provides a platform for students to collaborate and fine tune their art skills through a prompt.
“Congratulations for the most successful day,” said art teacher Danielle Michielini, all six of our BCSD groups in 5th and 8th grades–28 students in total--walked home with a prize.”
The 5th grade architecture group submitted a piece inspired by nostalgia and all things vintage–a paper mache extravaganza.
“We all love vintage items–so we made a vintage living room with a fireplace, mushrooms, Squshmallows, a couch, a fridge with our own brands of soda and our favorite foods and a bookshelf filled with books with unique titles,” said Noelle Gecaj.
“I love Star Wars and seltzer so my made up brand of seltzer is Moda Soda named after my favorite Star Wars character, Yoda,” said Adelina Zhang.
Nina Waters crawled through the vintage fireplace.
“This is my favorite part of the room,” said Nina, “You get a sneak peek into the living room before going inside.”
The fashion group created outfits inspired by the Victorian Era. Not only did they have to create dresses out of paper, they had to research the era, meticulously record their process, and perform a skit in front of judges.
“We had a little bit of a fashion emergency on the runway in front of the judges but McKenna did a great job and the dress is really beautiful–we created the flower stencils on the front, in the back is a bustle–the whole dress is made entirely of different kinds paper,” said Kate Herson.
“I just kept walking down the runway,” said McKenna Frost.
“We made hats and mannequins made out of paper mache and used coffee filters as decorations,” said Lily Inglis.
The moment of judgement was exciting and stressful.
“We were all holding our breath. When we heard we won we were jumping up and down,” said Arabella Addor, “kids from the other groups came up to us and told us how much they liked our project.”
“I am so proud of you,” said Michilini, “And I am really happy you got to talk to the other groups. One of the great things about OVA is that we get to talk to other kids about art. That’s really important. It’s a really special and unique situation.”
