Bidding started at $5 for the 24 art pieces up for auction at the first annual Student Art Silent Auction held at Miller Junior High School on Thursday night.
Colored nutcrackers, a portrait of a lion, and a whimsical scene of animals were among the pieces that students submitted.
Many events around the junior high are sports related, and we want to make sure we are reaching out to all students and all have opportunities to participate, said Laura Wisely, the treasurer for the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) that held the auction, adding that, “It’s just amazing how much talent there is … the level of creativity expression that is within these walls.”
Eighth-grader Camila Fonseca submitted an art piece that drew inspiration from Aztec art, and she used acrylic markers on fine art paper.
“I saw this mural and it inspired me to make it my own,” Fonseca said.
Yazmin Cabajal, her mom, shared that, “I’m so proud of her. She takes a lot of time [drawing]. She’s getting so good.”
Fonseca also enjoys sewing and sculpting. “I think it’s a way to express myself and it’s fun to do.”
Seventh grade artist Zoey McDonald created her art piece digitally, first sketching it by hand on paper and then, using the the ibisPaint app on her phone, hand drawing and coloring the piece on the tiny phone screen. She shared a time lapse video of how the images were drawn and shaded. The two figures are like angels, and the inspiration was being hopeful for a better day and being friends, McDonald said.
“[Zoey] has got sketches on everything,” said her mom, Amanda White.
“I do draw a lot of things,” McDonald said.
What all the art pieces shared was originality and the certainty that they were created by hand. Even the art pieces that had the animals preprinted, the shading and coloring work showed an artist learning how to shade and a skillful control of the colored pencil to stay within the lines.
Both Fonseca and McDonald aren’t fans of generative AI art.
“It’s annoying,” said Fonseca. “Even if [creating art] is hard, it’s a challenge. I feel like it’s better to go the hard way.”
Even if it takes a long time to produce a sketch that a generative AI program can spit out in seconds, McDonald said that she’s not wasting my time putting in the hard work. AI art “it feels lifeless,” she said.
At the end of the silent auction, the PTO raised $102, which will be used to support a field trip. At the auction’s conclusion, a PTO member thanked the parents and students for coming out, saying, we may be “small in number, but big in heart.”
There will be an opportunity to bid on the other artwork via an online auction, and the link will be posted at https://www.facebook.com/millerjuniorhigh.
