Scholastic Awards Exhibition Experience

Scholastic regional winners have been announced! To celebrate our classmates awards and to draw inspiration from what was on display, we decided to go see the exhibit at the Visual Art Center of Richmond. While there were some amazing wearable arts that were on display, I was a little disheartened by the small amount of them. I was actually more drawn in by this portfolio done by Ashley Xiao. Her work features a motif of vibrant swirling colors and symbols of her culture implanted in the paintings, along with herself and family members, which make each work feel like a moment in time. Their scale was impressive, and the detail was extravagant with her semi-realistic artstyle. It feels surreal, as the moments themselves seem possible, but the backdrop they are set in is mystical and unreal. I miss 2D artwork, and I am glad I got the change to appreciate her work for what it is: breathtaking.

Lessons learned from her work:

• Color catches people's attention

• Add your culture/another language in. Judges eat that up!

(P.S. Something interesting we noticed: very few if any abstract pieces were present with the winning artwork - it seems the judges had their own opinions - but that's just a theory)

Here are some of the photos I took below of Xiao's paintings:

• Top Left: Cycles

• Top Right: 家 (jiā)

• Bottom Left: Guardian

• Bottom Right: Reviere