LHS art students bring home the blue from art symposium

Seventeen Lovell High school art students brought home more blue ribbons from the Wyoming High School State Art Symposium this year than in the past three years. The students brought home 32 ribbons total; 31 were blue ribbons and one was a First Lady’s Choice ribbon.

“This year Lovell High School earned more ribbons than usual in comparison to my previous three years teaching here,” explained art teacher Tera Kostelecky. “My first year in Lovell we were in the COVID lockdown, and the State Art Symposium was cancelled for everyone in the state. My second year I was not able to take students due to personal circumstances, and although I was able to display their work, as a whole, the symposium was limited, at least half, by the state’s usual entries. This year there were nearly 5,000 artworks that were on display. We were blessed to ribbon as many as we did with such a large entry number.”

 Kostelecky said she tries to enter work from every Lovell art student. She said some enter one piece, while others enter more, adding that more entries equal more opportunities to ribbon.

Blue ribbon winners included Celeste Lindsay, Kate Cooper, Candace Walker, Kindle Collins, Lindsey Scheid-Leonhardt, James Love, Kaeson Anderson, Rebecca Allred, CeCe Collins, Cassie Heindl, Rudy Hall, Lily Hiser, Jasmine Keele, Randon Wegner, Brittni Aagard, Jared Mangus, Parker Anderson, Loreto Gonzalez Schuler, Livee James, Rebekah Hendershot and Elana Schilthuis. Anderson, Allred, Aagard, James and Schilthuis won two blue ribbons, and Hendershot won a whopping six. Schilthuis won Wyoming’s First Lady’s Choice ribbon. Her artwork will be on display at the governor’s mansion for the remainder of the year.

Student entries included a wide range of art styles and media. 

“I try my best to give all levels of my art students an opportunity to explore all different types of media to create,” said Kostelecky. “I teach four levels of art every period at the high school. In order to keep kids growing and exploring, all four levels are on different curriculum paths. However, each class works on specific projects presented to them. Primarily, we enter these projects to the symposium. I offer time for personal work that students work on in their free time or outside of class.”

Kostelecky said she was most impressed by the variety of art styles and media used for the student entries.

“This year I was especially impressed with the variety of ribbon winners based on the media used as well as the levels of each of the students,” she said.  “One student in particular stood out to me this year. Rebekah Hendershot has entered work into the Wyoming Art Symposium for the past three years. This year she also entered some of her photography. It is the first year that she has brought home ribbons. She was able to bring home six, the most out of all my students. It’s a special way to conclude her senior year in art at Lovell High School.

“Elana Schilthuis brought home two blue ribbons and a rare First Lady’s ribbon. This one is particularly special, because the first lady, Jennie Gordon, attends the symposium each year and selects work to be displayed in the Governor’s mansion in Cheyenne for the entire year.”

Kostelecky noted that Schilthuis was also invited to attend a barbecue in Cheyenne at the Governor’s residence at the end of June.

“All ribbon winners received recognition for good reason,” Kostelecky said. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of great work that didn’t receive a ribbon recognition. The students at Lovell High School work very hard all year long. A lot of creativity shines through these kids. It’s been a memorable and special time for them.”