Typically when people think of an art competition, the student pre-makes the work of art, brings it somewhere, leaves it there for a couple of weeks, and then it gets taken down and returned to them. If fortunate, they might attend an awards ceremony to celebrate the winners. Very little if any interaction between judge and student happens. The judge might read an artist statement but truly won’t see the process or problem solving the student had to experience to complete their work of art.
These “Make and Take” competitions are fine and I still think artists should participate in them. My questions are, “Where is the Excitement?” “What was their process and problem solving?” “What unique techniques did the artists use to create their artwork?”Artists enjoy making art and creation is an active, engaging, and exciting process. The journey to get to the final work of art is as interesting as the final artwork itself. The answers to these questions is simple, Art Wars.
Art Wars is an in-the-moment high school artist competition. Students have 2 hours to plan, prepare, and create a work of art. Students compete in categories which are drawing, painting, multi-media, animation, art attack, critique, clay/wheel throwing, digital art, graphic design, photography, sculpture, and printmaking. The judge is in the room critiquing students as they create their artwork, all the while writing comments on their judges sheets with positive and constructive critiques.
Plain and simple, Business, Forensics, One Act Play, Archery, Sports, and even Math has an active and engaging seasonal competition, while art students sit to the side waiting for something to happen. Art Wars just happened!