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May 17, 2017Brown School Achieves First Place Awards in Photography and Sculpture at Olympics of the Visual Arts
Brown School, an independent nursery through grade nine school, recently achieved a significant honor in the arts as their student teams won first place awards in both photography and sculpture (middle school category) at the Olympics of the Visual Arts (OVA). The event, which was held this year at the Saratoga Springs City Center, provides an opportunity for students to participate in individual or group artistic problem solving. A new series of problems is posed every fall. Students from all around the state create long-range solutions at their schools, and then travel to the Capital Region to compete on short-range problems in a day-long celebration of creativity. There are awards for a wide variety of categories. Brown School has been participating for over 10 years.
Brown School Art Educator John Dievendorf leads the teams of middle school students who work on projects outside of art class for over 4-5 hours per week for more than three months prior to the signature event. “Each team often has a completely different list of media and materials they use, not to mention different work habits, collaborative skills, and overall vision. However, once everything finally comes together by competition day, it’s amazing to watch the kids walking around the event and being awed by all the incredible artwork from all over the state,” said Dievendorf.
Students get ready for OVA by selecting a problem from eight different categories: fashion, design, illustration, drawing, painting, photography, architecture, and sculpture. Each category has its own unique problem every year. The students are placed on a team and begin by brainstorming ideas that may or may not work for their final product. They also begin to develop a portfolio that includes elements of art history, sketches and concepts, photos, and written reflections.
During the event, the students also create a spontaneous project. It’s a work of art based on a problem that nobody sees until that morning. The students work for 90 minutes on this project. The fashion team does not work on the spontaneous project. “They participate in a fashion show where their paper fashion designs must be fully functional. They also read a speech during their presentation. This year, during closing ceremonies, Brown School’s fashion team was asked to present their design to the entire assembly that included over 1000 people. It was quite an honor,” said Dievendorf.
Even though an incredible amount of work goes into the preparation for this event, there are many rewards for all involved. “By the time the students come home, they’re already discussing what they want to do better for next year. It’s an eye-opener for anyone who appreciates creativity,” said Dievendorf.
