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Congratulations to Bethany Qiang, an eighth grade
student at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School. She has earned
Gold Key awards at both the Regional and National Level in The
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for both her painting and writing.
Bethany has been taking lessons in Chinese
Watercolor from Ms. Dorina Shen since she was in sixth grade. Ms. Shen
teaches Chinese Watercolor painting at several places, including the
University of Akron, Cuyahoga Community College and the Cuyahoga
Valley Career Center. Her artwork can be found on many continents,
including North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Ms. Shen
artwork includes a variety of xieyi and gongbi art, both of which she
teaches her students.
Bethany has done both Xieyi and Gongbi
paintings. Xieyi drawings are composed of freehand strokes which allow
you to transfer your inner emotions onto paper. Gongbi shows the
artist emotions through details. Whether it is thin lines, small
dots, carefully placed strokes, etc., it is much more time consuming
and requires much more patience than xieyi paintings.
Bethany submitted a painting that had a
combination of xieyi and gongbi strokes of an eagle into the
Scholastic Art Awards. The title of the painting is Do Not Judge A
Branch by Its Bark. She has a sparking passion for many art forms, and
has been drawing and painting realistic art forms since she was four.
The Cuyahoga County Region art submissions were displayed in the
Cleveland Institute of Art in January. At the Regional Level, there is
the Gold Key award, the highest award, then the Silver Key award, then
the Honorable Mention. At the Cuyahoga County Regional Level, Bethany
received a Gold Key award for her outstanding effort.. Her painting
then moved on to the National Level, where it received a Gold award.
Her painting is publically displayed with other nationally recognized
Gold award artworks in Reeves Contemporary Art Gallery, located in the
heart of Chelsea Art District in New York City.
In addition to her passion for the visual
arts, Bethany also likes writing. She has been a member of Brecksville
Broadview-Heights Middle School Power of the Pen team for the past
two years. She received several awards at the District and Regional
Competition last year. This year, Bethany received a Gold Key award in
the Short Short Story category both at the Regional and National
Level. Her story, Hell Smack Dab in the Middle of Heaven, tracks a day
in the life of a young girl living under a totalitarian government.
The government forces her to work in a factory during the day, while
her parents are under the impression that she still goes to school.
She is forbidden to tell her family about her working instead of going
to school, unless she wants the government to kill her family.
Bethany attended the award ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City
on June 15 to recognize for her accomplishments, both in arts and
writing.
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
is a prestigious national program that offers early recognition for
creative teenagers and scholarship opportunities for graduating high
school seniors. The competition started in 1923 for students in the
seventh through twelfth grade. The Scholastic Art Awards represent 14
visual arts categories, including drawing, painting, sculpture, design
and electronic media. The Scholastic Writing Awards represent 11
writing categories, including humor, journalism, novel, science
fiction and short story. This year, the Alliance received over 100,000
works of art and writing, submitted through 82 regional affiliate
programs across the nation for consideration in 25 categories of art
and writing. The submissions are evaluated locally and nationally by a
panel of renowned artists, authors, educators and arts professionals. |
