On April 28, qualified students will be traveling to San Antonio to compete in the 2017 State Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE). VASE is a prestigious Texas art competition that begins with Regional level events and culminates in a large-scale state event.
“It’s a competition where you can bring up to two pieces to a convention center or school,” senior Tiffany Ouyang said. “You get interviewed, and then they grade on a scale of one to four. All the works that get a four are laid out in a room for everyone to see.”
VASE entries are categorized by the amount of time the students have studied art. Students generally enter art that they have already completed in class.
“Out of the works that get a four, they choose pieces to go to the State competition,” Ouyang said. “At State, you can earn a gold seal.”
Unlike most competitions, students have an opportunity to explain the intent behind their works through an interview process.
“I think it’s a really good opportunity to not just display your art, but to also talk about it and explain your intent,” Ouyang said. “The interview process makes it different from other art competitions.”
Due to its long history, starting in 1980, VASE primarily looks for classic art, rather than more modern-styled pieces. However, the interview process makes the judges a bit more flexible.
“This year, I’m submitting a graphite still life,” junior David Guo said. “I feel like it’s best because VASE looks for traditional types of artwork.”
VASE also looks for strong execution of art fundamentals. Students at this level produce works of high quality from many different two and three dimensional mediums.
“The other one I did is a white-on-black prismacolor,” Guo said. “It’s got high contrast, so it demonstrates the principles of art well.”
The gallery stage of the competition allows students to gain new ideas that they can apply to their own works.
“Entering art competitions is a good way to see what others are doing and look at their concepts,” junior Sandra Tsang said. “You can take aspects. Their piece could be more stylized, or if they use an interesting way of shading, it could be taken into consideration for your next project.”
While VASE is a distinguished event, many artists enter it as their first competition. They are known to stress over results.
“I’d encourage people not to look at VASE as the ultimate standard of how good their art is,” Guo said.
Since VASE does not require time spent on additional works, it is an easy chance for students in art class to get competitive experience.
“One thing that you really gain from the VASE experience is you gain insight into how to prepare for competitions,” Guo said. “You also learn what competitions are looking for, especially when it comes to promoting your own art.”