Art show winners have work at Venice Art Center

Area high school students won or placed in 12 categories and won four major awards in the South Sarasota County Schools Spring Art Show, which is being shown daily at Venice Art Center.

Awards were handed out at a ceremony May 2 at the VAC, 390 Nokomis Ave. S., on Venice Island. Artwork will be exhibited through May 9.

"When you see their artwork out there (in the Pat Buster Gallery), you are going to be amazed at the talent that we have here," said Mary Moscatelli, CEO of the Venice Art Center. "They could be competitive with a lot of our adults in our adult shows, and I'm going to be encouraging them to enter shows because I think they could give some of the adults a run for their money."

North Port High School and Venice High School students participated. Top awards went to four VHS students. Best of Show was awarded to Artyom Zherdetsky. The Portfolio Award went to Bryce Chang. The Creativity Award went to Sofia Meritt while the Senior Scholarship went to Bella Santore.

"She's going to go on to do great things," Moscatelli said of Santore. "All of the bigger winners are very talented."

The rest of the students who won or placed in the top three of their respective categories are students of either VHS or North Port High School. They include:

Drawing in Black and White: 1. Lillian Webb (VHS), 2. Jessica Truong (VHS) and 3. Krysta Fowler (NPHS).

Drawing in Color: 1. Ruby Forsch (VHS), 2. Arabella Kipp (VHS) and 3. Brooke Atwood (VHS).

Painting (watercolor, tempera): 1. Alyssa Visaggio (VHS), 2. Aryhanna Martinho (NPHS) and 3. Rozaliia Tabakova (NPHS).

Painting (oil, acrylic): 1. Amelia Valenti (VHS), 2. Victoria Rokovets (NPHS) and 3. Hannah Reynolds (VHS).

Sculpture/Mixed Media 3D: 1. Kelly Gaskell (VHS), 2. Caden Vogt (VHS) and 3. Lily Couch (VHS).

Ceramics (Functional): 1. Ciara Dungan (NPHS), 2. Rowan Warfield (VHS) and 3. Mia Gonzalez (NPHS).

Ceramics (Non-functional): 1. Bella Santore (VHS), 2. Lillian Webb (VHS) and 3. Violetta Gossen (NPHS).

Mixed Media: 1. Bryanna Stultz (NPHS), 2. Sofia Merritt (VHS) and 3. Sydney Johndow (VHS).

Photography: 1. Ray Rosich (NPHS).

Photography (Manipulated): 1. Allison Schapley (VHS).

Digital/Graphic Design: 1. Emma French (NPHS), 2. Jenny Quach (NPHS) and 3. Xaria Williams (NPHS).

Miscellany: 1. Milana Sakerina (NPHS), 2. Rosalind Lopez (VHS) and 3. Willow Pellicano (VHS).

Middle school contestants in attendance were recognized.

In all, students from 20 south Sarasota County schools received awards in Elementary, Middle and High School categories.

High school students received cash awards. The contest is sponsored by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

The jurists were VAC instructors Linda Larisch, Haley Ponder and Nanette Hopkins.

Moscatelli lauded the efforts of art teachers in south Sarasota County public schools, in particular Garden Elementary School art teacher Joanna Davis and Angela Hartvigsen, Sarasota County Schools fine arts program specialist.

Other awards

Rosalind Lopez received a scholarship for one academic year at State College of Florida (Bradenton campus).

The Sarasota Art Education Association Artistic Merit Award went to Kelly Gaskell of Venice High.

Arts Advocates, a group that supports children and the arts, gave Middle School Art Show awards. Emelia Bonds (Woodland Middle School) placed first. Ivy Case (Laurel Nokomis School) took second place and third place went to Marcelino Irigoyen (Heron Creek Middle School).

See this story as it originally appeared in the Venice Gondolier Sun on May 7, 2024, here.