St. Michael-Albertville Brings Home 28 Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards

St. Michael-Albertville School District students earned keys that may open doors to a future career in art.

The students brought home 28 Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards (MSAA) awards as "silver keys," "gold keys" and "honoroble mention" for individual entries and portfolios.

"MSAA recognizes many of our state's most creative teenagers and offers scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors," stated the MSAA website. The competition is open to all Minnesota students in grades seven through 12.

Results were announced in February, and an awards ceremony takes place Sunday.

Photos of winning art from STMA is posted on art teacher Kari Halker-Saathoff's blog.

Statewide, there were 1,849 individual artwork entries and 164 portfolio entries — a total of 500 more entries compared with last year. The jury awarded 183 Gold Keys for individual art entries and 17 Gold Keys for portfolio entries statewide.

The judges also awarded 186 Silver Keys and 340 honorable mentions for individual entries, and 13 portfolio Silver Keys and 27 portfolio honorable mentions.

All "gold key" art is on display at the MSAA Gold Key Exhibition through Sunday at the College of Visual Arts Gallery in St. Paul.

STMA Gold Key award winners will be part of an award ceremony Sunday at the Minnesota History Center. From there, they will move on to a national competition in the spring. National winners will be announced in May.

Gold Key Award Ceremony
Sunday, March 3
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. — Gold Key Exhibition Open House at College of Visual Arts Gallery
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — Gold Key Award Ceremony at Minnesota History Center

AWARD WINNERS:
St. Michael-Albertville students who earned MSAA awards are:

Art Portfolios:
Louie-Paulo Darang — 12th grade, Art Portfolio Gold Key
Matthew Fecho — 12th grade,  Art Portfolio Silver Key
Julie Nguyen  — 12th grade,  Art Portfolio Silver Key
Joshua Smith — 12th grade,  Art Portfolio Silver Key
David Anderson — 12th grade, Art Portfolio Honorable Mention
Joseph Clayton– 12th grade, Art Portfolio Honorable Mention
Eljah Guillou — 12th grade, Art Portfolio Honorable Mention
Jessica Leonhardt  — 12th grade, Art Portfolio Honorable Mention
Brandy Schirmers — 12th grade, Art Portfolio Honorable Mention
Katie Scott – 12th grade, Art Portfolio Honorable Mention

Individual Art Pieces:
Louie-Paulo Darang —12th grade, Printmaking - Gold Key
Katie Scott — 12th grade, Photography - Gold Key
Kylie Slavin  — 12th grade, Ceramics - Gold Key
Wesley Van't Hull — 10th grade, Drawing - Gold Key
Cortney Woodis 12th grade, Fashion - Gold Key
Cortney Woodis 12th grade, an additional Gold Key
Joseph Clayton 12th grade, Drawing - Silver Key
Louie - Paulo Darang 12th grade, Printmaking - Silver Key
Charlie Shaw, 12th grade, Mixed Media - Silver Key
Benjamin Wold, 11th grade, Ceramics – Silver Key
Cortney Woodis, 12th grade, Ceramics - Silver Key
Eljah Guillou, 12th grade, Ceramic- Honorable Mention
Eljah Guillou, 12th grade, a second Ceramic - Honorable Mention
Julie Nguyen, 12th grade, Mixed Media- Honorable Mention
Brandy Schirmers, 12th grade, Ceramic - Honorable Mention
Katie Scott, 12th grade, Photography - Honorable Mention
Joshua Smith, 12th grade, Mixed Media - Honorable Mention
Joshua Smith, 12th grade, a second piece of Mixed Media - Honorable Mention

STMA Art Teacher Kari Halker-Saathoff's children also won awards:
Harrison Halker Heinks, 8th grade, Photography - Gold Key
Harrison Halker Heinks, 8th grade, Ceramic - Gold Key
Avery Halker Heinks, 7th grade, Photography - Gold Key
Avery Halker Heinks, 7th grade, Ceramic - Silver Key
Avery Halker Heinks, 7th grade, Photography - Silver Key

The MSAA awards come from a partnership between The Art Educators of Minnesota and the College of Visual Arts. The competition is a statewide regional affiliation of the National Scholastic Art Awards program.