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Two Students Earn Scholastic Art Awards

March 10, 2021

The Scholastic Art Awards celebrate artistically talented young people every year. For 2021, Maura Schutz '22 and Clare Friar '22 were both recognized for multiple pieces.

Clare Friar

Friar has been taking art classes at CDH since her ninth-grade year. She has an innate creativity and an eagerness to push her own limits as an artist.

"When I met Clare as a freshman, she was pushing outside the box," Art teacher Suzanne Cranston said. "Now as a junior, she is bursting out of the box and creating an AP portfolio! Her enthusiasm impresses me every day!"

Clare was honored with a Silver Key for her painting, "Feeling Lost and Found," and an Honorable Mention for her painting, "I am God."

"Clare is completely true to her inner voice and I would call her a visionary," said Cranston. "She can't NOT make art. Clare thinks deeply about her visual ideas and is fearless in her art making!"

Maura Schutz

Schutz was awarded a Silver Key for "Big Brother," and Honorable Mentions for "Tiny Universe," and "Pink and Chrome."

"Maura has a sparkle quality that shines so bright in all of her creative works," Cranston said. "I don't know how she does it, but she always captures that special 'thing.' It might be the colors she chooses, or certain details that she includes. Either way, her work is uniquely Maura's and I am so honored to be able to see her finished pieces in person. There is nothing like them."

"This piece, 'Big Brother,' was made with charcoal and blue pastel on grey drawing paper; this was only my second time using charcoal for an art piece," Schutz explained. "My reference for this portrait was a photo of my older brother when he was around the age of 5-7. This art piece is probably one of my top favorites as I loved the way it turned out!"

"The 'Tiny Universe' drawing is whimsical and nostalgic for me. This piece consists of watercolor, markers, scrapbook paper, and pen. In art class, we were supposed to draw a memory that we would want to keep forever; I decided to illustrate a memory from when I was young. This memory involved me going to Como Park with my dad, hence the floral design, when we would always inevitably get ice cream after walking (and sometimes running for fun) around Como Lake," Schutz said."

"For my final art piece titled 'Pink and Chrome' I used only 5 colored pencils ranging from deep pink to white on toned tan paper (the best for drawing with colored pencils!). I finished this drawing around early June, around the time school ended for the summer. Sketching this piece wasn't too challenging as the shapes were pretty simple; the hard part was mastering the shadows and the reflections from my reference picture.