“Moments come and go in physical action/ But stay in our brain/ Never is there a time when moments aren’t happening/ Sometimes they are sweet/ Sometimes bitter.”
So begins Shweta Narayanan’s poem about magic moments. For her, she explained, those moments happen every afternoon.
Shivani Modi painted a whale watching scene for her Reflections submission. Photo by Lillian O’Rorke
“When I come home from school my mom always gives me a hug and a kiss,” she said. The third grade student at Endeavour Elementary wrote and submitted her poem for this year’s PTA cultural arts competition, Reflections.
Each fall the National PTA, as well as the Washington State PTA, challenge students to create various forms of art work that support a specific theme.
This year the theme is “The magic of the moment,” and 179 students at Endeavour submitted entries.
“The kids that participate get a great value in terms of putting together an overall project, and getting to see that their hard work can produce something that has value and is lasting and can touch other people,” said Shareen Locke, Reflections chairwoman for Endeavour’s PTSA. “I think art has a way of just really communicating something that words can’t.”
To celebrate all the student’s creative efforts, the school’s PTSA hosted the Endeavour Elementary Reflections Awards Reception Nov. 14 at the school.
Over the course of the evening, students and parents wandered around the main corridor of the building, looking at the different drawings, paintings, photographs, poems and short stories that were on display.
Other categories in the competition include music composition, film/video and choreography/dance.
Fourth grade students Reese Manley and Krista Mainard strolled slowly along, admiring their classmates’ work.
[[Show as slideshow]]“They all are really good,” said Mainard. She and Manley both wrote pieces for the literature category. Mainard also made a short video for the contest.
Ishan Parikh’s magic moment occurred last summer, during a family trip to Canada when he saw a flock of egrets fly over a bridge. Recalling that moment and inspired by Pablo Picasso’s work, Parikh created an image out of solid blocks of color that looked liked it was a stained glass window rather than a flat piece of paper.
“There’s so much geometry and shapes inside of it,” he said, explaining why he likes cubism.
He titled the piece “Sailing Through the Sunset Afterglow,” and was one of 13 students that earned an honorable mention from judges.
Parikh also received a second honorable mention for his music entry.
“A lot of the artwork is representative of some very talented students,” said Locke.
Judging for the contest was “blind” and outside of the school. Children’s names were left off their pieces and judges were community members who did not have ties to the school.
Out of the nearly 180 submissions, 12 finalists were chosen for the Issaquah School District-wide contest.
The finalists include: Stefania Marinescu for film; Anna Kiesewetter and Claire Southwick for literature; Emily Zhang for music; Atesha Banki for dance; Andra Marinescu for primary photo; Ethan Lou and Madison Chapman for intermediate photo; Anjali Patel and Nicholas Weng for primary visual arts; and Samprikta Basu and Daniel Weng for intermediate visual arts.
Honor-able mentions went to Olivia Seidel and Mainard for intermediate film; Katherine Holo and Narayanan for intermediate literature; Parikh and Marques Locke for intermediate music; Sierra Cox and Issac Walker for primary photo; Zachary Fechko and Kendra Young for intermediate photo; Vasudha Ravivarma and Ronak Kothari for primary visual arts; and Vatsal Chandel and Parikh for intermediate visual arts.
The work of Endeavour’s finalists will be combined with other finalist submission from around the district for judging to advance further in the state competition and perhaps eventually the national competition. The Issaquah PTSA Council will host a District Reflections Gallery Walk Exhibit Jan. 8.
For more information on the contest visit www.wastatepta.org and click on “Reflections” under the program tab.
Reporter Lillian O’Rorke can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242 or ltucker@sammamishreview.com.