- An award ceremony for the Draper Visual Arts Foundation arts scholarship competition was held Monday at City Hall.
- The contest featured nearly 80 entries from high school seniors in the Salt Lake Valley.
- Student winners discuss the inspiration and process behind their submissions.
DRAPER — Photography has been an outlet for Alta High senior Sadie Brian to communicate with others.
"I'm very dyslexic, and so I always kind of struggled with my words and trying to express myself," she said. "And so growing up, I would always draw pictures and all that."
In her freshman year of high school, Brian took a photography class and decided she wanted to lean into the craft even further.
"I was like wow, I just really enjoy this, and it kind of bloomed from there. I got my first camera and have loved it since," she said.
The 18-year-old was among more than a dozen high school seniors awarded Monday evening at the Draper Visual Arts Foundation's annual arts scholarship competition ceremony.
Brian won first place in photography for her piece "My Soul," which she said explores the impact of beauty standards in Utah, based on some of her personal experiences.
"I get a lot of judgment, and a lot of people don't think that I'm worth talking to — or that I'm scary because of my looks," she explained. "I've even had friends who know me be like, 'If I didn't know you, I would think that you were so scary and so mean.'"
The digital art piece shows Brian photographed behind plexiglas and hair gel, with a mostly blurred image of her face.
"By blurring my face, I remove the details that invite quick judgment and force the viewer to look beyond my physical appearance. I stare directly into the viewer's eyes, daring them to sit and understand who I am," she wrote in a statement regarding the artwork on the foundation's website.
Like Brian, each student artist entry in the competition tells their own story by way of photography, paintings or wood art.
Nearly 80 artistic entries from just under 50 high school seniors within the Canyons School District were submitted for the recent weeklong exhibit on display at Draper City Hall.
Ten students were awarded a share of prize money, ranging from $100 to $1,000, including a grand prize commemorating one of the organization's founding members. Another five artists were also recognized for their talents with honorable mentions.
Winners were determined based on three categories: photography, digital art, as well as two-dimensional and three-dimensional pieces, including wood, jewelry, pottery and sculpture.
Jacob Hamblin, 18, a senior at Corner Canyon, won the coveted grand prize of $1,000 and the Jean Hendricksen Legacy Award for his three-dimensional wooden art submission called "grain and goal."
"It was a foosball table that I built last year in my Woods 3 class. It was originally supposed to be like a semester project, but it ended up taking the full year (because of how complicated it was)," he said.
The project involved making most components by hand, except for the metal rods, with the players and handles, which were made from epoxy resin. The entire table was constructed in a total of 250 to 300 hours, according to Hamblin.
He'd previously won a similar competition in Las Vegas, and Hamblin's teacher encouraged him to enter the Draper Arts Scholar competition.
During Monday's ceremony, as names were being read off for awards, Hamblin initially thought he'd walk away empty-handed.
"I thought I didn't get anything at first, but then at the end, they announced the grand prize winner — which I had no idea about — and then that was me, so I was really happy," he recounted.
Hamblin said he's glad he entered the contest along with other students like him.
"It was so cool to see like everyone else's projects," he said.
The experience and opportunity to have her work showcased in a public art display were equally gratifying for Brian.
"It was so cool to know that other people have seen it and appreciated it and know that there had been other artists there that also saw my piece and saw the value in it," she said.
Other first-place winners were Luke Jones, of Corner Canyon, in the three-dimensional category for a guitar titled "Guiding Light," and Ali Kennard, also of Corner Canyon, for her two-dimensional painting "Fall to Remember."
Brian hopes that those whose submissions didn't win awards do not become discouraged if they want to further pursue art.
"Their art means something to somebody," she said.
Brian plans to continue her photography and possibly take some classes in college.
A full list of student art contestants in the 27th annual Draper Visual Arts Foundation's arts scholar competition can be found on the organization's website, along with information about its annual Art in the Barn event in August.
