By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
A brightly colored acrylic painting of a bedroom and an ocean-themed ceramic dinner set have earned a pair of Sitka High art students statewide accolades.
Sitka High junior Anna Saiz said she wanted her entry in the Alaska School Activities Association competition to capture a space important to her. The painting that earned her third place depicts her bedroom, a scene illuminated by the setting sun shining through a pair of windows that shows a lived-in space where a variety of artwork covers the walls.
“I’m applying for art school... and one of the prompts for a school that I was looking at was to paint something like a space or like a building that’s important to you. It’s funny, because I chose my room because I’ve covered it in my art. It’s just a space that I’ve made my own… It’s just a representation of me, I think, because I’ve been in my room a lot for the past two years,” Saiz said in an interview Friday.
Working in a different medium, SHS senior Kaia Lass claimed third in her category with a ceramic dinner set for two. Much like Saiz, Lass has been exposed to art for much of her life. Her father, David Lass, teaches art at the high school.
“I’ve been surrounded by art my whole life,” Kaia Lass told the Sentinel. “And I see him bring his art home and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really cool, I want to make some of my own,’” she said.
Before working with clay, she took the art classes required as preparation for ceramics. “I did those and then I just fell in love with it. And I’ve just been doing it for five semesters now,” she said.
The results of the ASAA All-State art competition were published April 26.
In the statement accompanying her painting Saiz cited the influence of the pandemic in her art.
“Throughout the last two years of my life, it seemed like I had been stuck in the same room day after day. With limited things to do, and the thought of the world collapsing outside my room, my walls slowly began to fill up with an endless stream of artwork,” Saiz wrote.
Sitka High School junior Anna Saiz’s painting, “Room” (Photo provided)
“I’ve been doing art for basically my whole life because my mom’s an artist,” she said. “But I don’t know, I kept coming back to it because it’s just meditative. And it’s an outlet. I feel like once you learn something and get really good at it, it’s really satisfying to do something that people can relate to and that I like.”
Lass’s ceramic dinner set includes bowls, plates and mugs glazed in various tones of blue and white.
Sitka High School senior Kaia Lass’s ceramics set. (Photo provided)
“At the beginning of this year I actually started experimenting with a bunch of glazes and finding out which ones I like,” she said, “and that one I just liked a lot and they blended really nicely together. So I just made a bunch of mugs with that color and then transferred it onto plates and stuff… I get a lot of inspiration from the ocean. I love blues and purples and greens.”
In hindsight, Lass wishes she had submitted art to the contest last year as well. She plans to join the Navy following graduation and hopes to work in intelligence.
Much like his classmates, sophomore Clar Joaquin has been exposed to art for many years. He submitted a graphite image of a person holding their face as hands reach out offering assistance.
He titled the work “Anxiety.”
“Most people don’t talk about it. So I just take that advantage to put it into art… You just don’t want to talk to people and you’re just scared to talk to anyone about it. So that’s why I drew a person covering their face,” Joaquin said.
In the picture shadows cover the anxious person while the helping hands are brightly illuminated.
“I saw my grandpa doing (art) when I was a kid – I fell in love. He inspired me to do art,” he said. “My dad does painting or colored pencils. So that kind of played a part of it as well. And I started doing art when I was in sixth grade… Art is like therapy for me,” he said. “I’m not able to express what I feel to people and I just put it to art.”
While his graphite composition did not win a state-level award, he says he’s eager to continue improving his portfolio.
“We all start somewhere. For me I didn’t win anything so that’s like my experience, learning from there,” he said.
Works of art from the state competition can be seen at artalaska.org.
