On February 9, the 2013 Regional Visual Arts Scholastic Event was held at Timberview High School in Arlington. Of the 108 art pieces that the 73 Flower Mound High School art students entered into VASE, 86 received a superior ranking and 21 of those pieces were selected to progress to the State VASE competition.

“The competition is usually held at a high school in your area,” sophomore Shannon Flynn said. “Once you get to the school, you wait to be interviewed about certain aspects of your art like technique and inspiration.”

Students are not only judged on their artistic abilities, but also on how well they perform during the interview. Once the students are done, the judges inspect the piece and give it a rating of one to four, with four being the best. The pieces are judged on the intricacy of the painting or drawing, the technique used, and even personal preference.

“After all the interviews are over, the pieces that got fours are spread across a hallway,” senior Katherine Choi said. “Then the judges have sticky notes that they put on their favorite pieces and whichever pieces have the most votes go to state.”

Of the hundreds of pieces that are given ratings of four, only a fraction of them are selected to go to state based on the judges votes for favorite. Colored paintings or drawings are more likely to go to state, as the judges tend to prefer colored pieces.

“I was rather surprised that my art piece was chosen for state,” freshman Hwanhee Kim said. “There were so many amazing pieces that I thought would go for sure, but didn’t.”

The competition gives kids a chance to hear what people have to say about their work and take in the critiques from others so they can improve. Many freshmen who are not confident of their works are encouraged by the fact that judges have sent their pieces to state, and it builds their confidence of themselves and their abilities.

“VASE gives you a chance to talk about your art work and have confidence in what you made,” Choi said. “It is rather eye opening when you hear the opinions other people might have of you and your art.”

Every year, the judges give superior ratings to hundreds of art pieces, many of which are done by FMHS art students, and decide which are good enough to make it to the prestigious state competition.

“Flower Mound always does really well at the VASE competitions,” Choi said. “I can honestly say that I was expecting that so many of our kids went onto state.”

The state VASE competition will be held on April 5-6 in College Station, featuring 17 FMHS art students and 21 of their pieces.