ODESSA — Two Shorthorns competed in the Regional Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE) on Saturday, March 2, at Permian High School in Odessa.
Junior Francisco Rosas entered a piece called “Liberate,” made primarily with white colored pencils on black paper, with hands that seem to reach out from his abdomen in a surprising pop of red. Sophomore Piper Donaldson entered two pieces, a portrait of her best friend — who is away studying abroad in Ireland this year — and a painted guitar.
Rosas’ piece is a representation of social anxiety disorder, and describes the difficulties of someone who is afraid of judgment, he said. “Expressing thoughts, opinions, ideas and emotions to other people can be really scary,” Rosas said. “So, someone with social anxiety prefers to keep their feelings hidden from their friends, family or the general public.”
The piece depicts the artist sewing up a gaping chasm in his chest, “a reference to repressing thoughts and emotions that threaten to spill out,” Rosas explained. The three hands are red, symbolizing the internal color of the body. Each hand gesture represents an emotion: the top hand is cautious or wary behavior, the middle hand is anger, and the bottom hand represents fear.
Rosas’ piece received the highest score of 4 at regionals and will advance to state competitions.
Sophomore Piper Donaldson entered two pieces, one of a 2-D drawing on blue paper, the other of a guitar painted with imagery from her childhood: fields of strawberries and her grandmother’s house. “VASE was cool,” said Donaldson. “The best part was the Chinese Buffet where I ate 200 crab rangoons.”
Food aside, Donaldson said she enjoyed the competition and the artists’ trading card activity — trading one of her mothman cards for another student’s pinup girl card. “VASE is cool because you get to see all the emo kids,” Donaldson said. “It’s a human zoo where the art kids finally dominate, so the opposite of usual high school.”
Piper’s mother, Elizabeth Donaldson, teaches science at Marfa ISD and accompanied the students and Adele Powers to Permian High School, where the hall was lined with artwork from all the participating schools in Region 18, schools from Andrews to Odessa to Presidio.
“There were a lot of talented artists,” Mrs. Donaldson said. “We saw a lot of cool work from kids from Region 18. I was super impressed with the creativity and passion and enthusiasm to make all these super-involved, interesting works.”
Piper’s pieces received a score of 3 for the guitar, and the highest score of 4 for the portrait of her friend.
“I’m over the moon to have a student advance to state VASE competition in San Marcos again this year! It’s such a cool competition, with artwork from the best young visual artists in the state,” Ms. Powers said. “It’s a huge testament to the talent of my students that a kid from a 1A school like Marfa can compete against kids who are in arts magnet schools or in schools with thousands of kids and multiple art teachers.”