VASE is a visual arts scholastic competition that will be held on February 11. Students in art club or art class can compete by creating an art piece to showcase.

“It’s basically an art competition that allows students to create whatever type of artwork they want and compete,” art teacher Rebecca Harrison said. “They also have a one on one interview with a juror, so that they have the opportunity to explain their artwork and creative process and explain the way they created their artwork.”

Unlike other art contests, VASE wants to learn about the person behind the artwork as well as the piece itself. The student’s thoughts while creating their art is considered as an important factor in the judging process.

“It’s more than them just seeing your art work and only judging that,” freshman Makenna Crews said. “You go in and do an interview, so it’s more face to face and more personal.”

There are tons of many mediums from which students can create including painting, photography, charcoal sketches and many more. Most of the time students have a favorite medium that they are able to perfect.

“I did photography because that’s the medium I enjoy,” Crews said. “I did one of a stop sign at an angle that looked really cool. I called it routine because the dots are in a pattern that makes a routine.”

Every year there are previous competitors that compete with the new who enter artwork into VASE, so students will be competing with other people with more or less experience than them. Students work hard to perfect their artwork and look at everything with an artistic eye.

“I think that my piece is strong,” Crews said. “I hope it will qualify, but I really have no idea what I’m going up against.”

All of the artwork entered has to be supervised by a TAEA (Texas Art Education Association) member before it is judged by a juror. After the piece is judged, there are many other levels of competition that the student’s art work will be able to compete in.

“As long as I have supervised the creation of their artwork from start to finish then they can be involved in the process,” Harrison said. “If a student gets a four, they automatically advance their artwork to the area competition. A certain percentage of pieces that go to area advance to the state competition. If they advance to state then they get the opportunity to do a hands on workshop with some of the best artists in state.”