|
 On Monday morning, 4-H Non-original Visual Arts
and 4-H Visual Arts and general 4-H projects judging took place with
hundreds of outstanding entries for judges to consider. The entries
are made from various media, which may be either original or
non-original.
To create their artwork, the young artists may use media such as
paper, clay, fiber, wood, chalk/carbon/pigment, glass/plastic, metal
and nature.
Original arts are designs created entirely by the exhibitor, while
non-original arts are made from either kits, pre-printed designs, or
pre-molded pieces.
The artwork is judged for its craftsmanship, originality, and
creativity, though these areas are only a small portion of the total
score. The 4-H members must also have a basic knowledge of various
art concepts and be able to present judges with a detailed
explanation of their projects.
Judges say they consider how well 4-H members explain their project
goals, their reasons for choosing the project, their decisions, and
their results, as well as providing a self-evaluation of what they
could have done differently.
As Allie Hand judges aerospace, tractor, welding or small engine
projects, after the kids explain their projects, she likes to ask
them the important things they learned from the project and what was
the most fun about doing it.
Colleen Roate judges visual arts and asks kids how they came up with
the idea, whether they had a good time and what they would do
differently if they did the project again.
Dennis Campbell judges the environmental science section and tells
kids to keep their interests no matter what. In talking to one child
about his bug project, he asked where the child found the bugs and
gave him more tips on finding bugs.
In judging photography, Jacob Tyler looks at the composition of the
photo to see how pleasing and captivating it is and what makes it
good. He wants to see how much the kids know about the camera to
progress.
To make kids feel more at ease and relate to them on a personal
level, judges also ask the kids about themselves.
Both during and after the judging, judges give feedback telling
participants where they did well, as well as how and where they
could show improvement. The smallest details can be significant.
Some 4-H members did projects using various media and entered both
visual and non-visual projects, while others focused on one project.
Though some participants have been entering projects for many years,
several were entering projects for the first time.
First time participant Colby Bowman did a project called junk drawer
robotics. He made a marshmallow catapult, which he said was the
first thing in the book he had, and was fun to make and use.
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Henry Farmer, another first-time participant, did
projects on tractor safety dos and don’ts and visual arts. In the
visual arts project, Farmer painted bolts, screws, nails and a
wrench to make them all look like a tree. His grandma gave him the
idea and he loves painting.
In his first year of 4-H, Klaytyn Snow entered a
photograph and poultry science project. Snow’s photo was of a turtle
in North Carolina. He got very close up to take the photo, which he
said was cool. For poultry science, Snow chose to do a project on
chickens because the family raises chickens, and it is easy to learn
about them. Since chickens do not have teeth, he wanted to learn how
they eat.
Scotty White grew sunflowers for his project because he likes them.
Though he is just nine years old, White has been growing sunflowers
for about five years and has won first place before. White plans to
keep competing until he is too old for 4-H.
Myah Bowman, who has participated for a few years, did a
scrapbooking project on a recent trip to Florida. Bowman loved
creating memories of her trip to Florida. Over the weekend, Bowman
had made a Swedish Tea Ring that a leader told her was good for a
4-H cooking project.
Entering for the sixth year, Palmer Sheets did a scrapbooking
project on a trip to Florida her family took earlier this year.
Sheets said she is very creative and loves putting the photos
together.
Hollis Sheets, a fifth-year participant, did his project on tractor
safety. In the project done on posterboard, Sheets talked about the
Power-Take-Off (PTO.) He showed what goes from the tractor to the
implement and how the PTO keeps people safe. Sheets likes farming,
so he said that made him interested in the topic.
Seventeen-year-old Mackenzie McIntosh has been in 4-H for seven
years and did wood painting and canvas painting this year.
Mcintosh’s canvas painting was a landscape with a desert sunset. She
likes beautiful sunsets and decided to recreate a photo of one in
her painting. In the wood painting, Mcintosh was inspired by a show
called Teen Wolf. Mcintosh used her favorite color, blue, in the
painting and mixed the blue to give the painting different
dimensions.
Though not yet in 4-H, eight-year-old Elaina Martin entered several
projects in the general visual arts section, including drawing three
separate horses with a pencil, marker and crayon. She also did an
acrylic painting with depth of flowers, sky and grass and sewed a
Barbie dress. Martin hopes to enter 4-H projects showcasing her
talents in years to come.
As always, the visual and non-visual arts and general 4-H projects
section showcased the talents of many youths from around Logan
County.
Winning entries will be displayed in the Expo Building throughout
the week of the fair.
[Angela Reiners] |
