By Abrielle Backhaus

Local high school students gathered at the Young Auditorium to challenge each other creatively through a theme of Earth, Wind, Fire and Art.

“It’s going to be a great day for everybody,” said Doua Vue UW-Whitewater Alumnus and Milton High School teacher while offering a pep-talk before the Visual Arts Classic (VAC) competition began. “Sure there’s going to be winners and losers, but it’s about the learning process more-so than anything else.”

About 10 schools in the nearby area arrived to compete for a chance to advance to the state finals held in Madison, Wisconsin, on March 6.

Students across the state were given a theme to research along with a long-term project to complete for the VAC. These projects ranged in mediums from photography to drawing and ceramics to sculpture.

“They have been working and researching 12 different artists since November,” Vue said. “They also have been working on their long-term projects since then, so today they’re presenting those long-term projects.”

These long-term projects are judged in the atrium of the Young Auditorium while students disperse to various classrooms to start on-site projects. In the classrooms, students are tested on their ability to work creatively as a team. These projects are later critiqued and scored.

Throughout the day, students and school teams are given points for efforts and projects made.

Two other competitions, quiz bowl a game-show-like timed challenge focused on art history and critical thinking prompted competition to be presented in front of all in VAC attendance. These two are judged and added to the final group score.

Students have the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the UW-Whitewater faculty and students who judged their artwork.

“There are very few competitions that are like this,” Vue said. “So this is one of those times where the kids get to really work with people who share their interests and their passions about art and really get to go to different campuses and sit down with professors and talk about their art pieces and get professional advice and suggestions to better themselves.”

Michael Flanagan, Crossman Gallery Director, said UW-W students are probably the most influential for the high school students.

“The students who are active students right now are much closer to their creative process than I am,” Flanagan said. “My creative days, studio classroom days were a long time ago so the students who are here now are, first, a little closer in age and second, they’re experience is a little closer to what the high school students are going through.”

These individual projects are scored and added to the group total. Only a few high school teams move onto the state competition. The state competition does allow for individual exhibitions as well, but only the teams who were voted to move along can compete in the group competitions in Madison, Wisconsin.

The event is highly anticipated each year and Vue said Milton High School has attended the state competition annually.

Flanagan said the VAC is an effective way to introduce students to UW-W and do a brief plug on UW-W’s Art Department.

“So it’s pretty exciting. Students get excited about it. It’s a way for us to meet students, some of those students end up coming to school here,” Flanagan said. “Basically it’s a chance for the student to see what a college environment is like.”

This year’s VAC winning schools, listed first through third place, Martin Lutheran High School, Waterloo High School and McFarland High School.