Talented young Heights artists featured in this week’s pages
As is now true the second week of each month, the tops of our first three pages are a little different. Our thanks go out to some talented young artists at Hamilton Heights Elementary School, an art teacher who wants students to succeed, and a group of sponsors who jumped at the chance to support these young people.
Before we get into the details of this contest, the winners, the prizes, and the sponsors who make it all happen, we really must talk about the top of Page A1.
The owners of The Reporter and our art contest judge, Editorial Cartoonist Tim Campbell, were simply blown away by the adaptation of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night that takes first place this month.
You may see the faint guidelines outlining the space we give students to draw their art for this contest. In fine van Gogh fashion, this young artist appears to have thought, “Stay inside the lines? Art doesn’t stay inside the lines!”
Solid point, kid.
Rigid as our publisher and our page designer both are about fitting content into neat little boxes, neither had the heart to trim anything out of this one.
Loralai James decided to draw her own lines, then spread out a little more, and no one can argue that the result is … well, it’s ART!
It didn’t hurt that our publisher has a van Gogh print hanging in his office, or that he lives with a one-eared cat named Vincent. Still, if neither of those things were true, it’s just hard to believe that a second grader produced something this impressive.
Without further ado (drumroll please), our March 2024 Young Artist of the Month award winners are: Loralai James (Page A1), Charlotte Goff (Page A2) and Mason Kaiser (Page A3) from Cheri Trachtman’s second- and fourth-grade art classes at Hamilton Heights Elementary School.
Their artwork will grace the pages of The Reporter in print and online all week long.
In addition to having their artwork at the top of the page in Hamilton County’s Hometown Newspaper, each of these students received a framed certificate from The Reporter, signed and presented by Editorial Cartoonist Tim Campbell. They each received a gift certificate from Hobby Lobby so their parents can take them to pick out more art supplies, and a gift certificate from Bien Mexicana, 150 S. Peru St., Cicero, to go celebrate a little.
Gaylor Electric, Tom Wood Volkswagen Noblesville, Adler Attorneys, and three private citizens – Bill Miller, Emily Pearson, and one very nice Noblesville lady who asked to remain anonymous – are the sponsors who showed us their commitment to local artists this month by opening their checkbooks so these kids can have the prizes they deserve.
Reporter Editorial Cartoonist Tim Campbell presented a check to Hamilton Heights Elementary Art teacher Cheri Trachtman for use in her classes. (Photo provided)
Our sponsors even allowed us to write a check to the school, which will go to Trachtman’s art class.
“Cheri Trachtman has been teaching at Hamilton Heights School Corporation since 1990 and was recognized as the 2019 HHES Teacher of the Year,” Superintendent Derek Arrowood told The Reporter. “Her passion for helping every student find success in her class is unmatched. Her willingness to help students find their inner artist has had a positive impact on thousands of HHES students over the years. Students enter her class hoping they can make art and leave her class knowing they can.”
Now, not only do her students know they can make art, all of Hamilton County knows as well!