MITCHEL — It was another successful round for Mitchell High School students in recent contests in art and photography.

Students from the school brought home a number of first, second and third place finishes among their peers in categories ranging from painting, graphic design and photography, according to Marica Shannon, an art teacher at Mitchell High School.

“We took seven students and to have three walk away with a medal (at the Art Wars competition), we are very, very excited about that,” Shannon said.

Students first took part in the Regional Art Wars at South Dakota State University in Brookings. The event, which took place Feb. 2 on campus, is an in-the-moment competition where student artists, from multiple schools, compete against each other to make the best artwork possible in their category, according to the contest website.

Top finishers for Mitchell High School at the event include Dailyn Kiner, who took first place in painting. She was joined by Elizabeth Mick, a senior, who placed first in graphic design and Jason Halfmann, a junior, who finished third in graphic design.

The

Art Wars

format has been on the rise in South Dakota for about five years, after the South Dakota Art Education Association decided to bring the event to the state after seeing it blossom in Minnesota. Art Wars events involve students bringing their materials to the event and creating art under a time limit, with a theme chosen by the judge on hand.

The contest promotes thinking on one’s feet, working under a deadline, interpreting a theme and developing it quickly.

All three students did well, with Kiner, a sophomore, bringing home the top spot.

“I was impressed with the different things she did,” Shannon said. “She’s already thinking about it for next year.”

This is the first year that the

South Dakota High School Activities Association has sanctioned the event,

and Kiner will now move on to the state competition, which is slated for March 16 in Sioux Falls.

Mitchell High School students also took part in the South Dakota Physics Photo competition, an event put on by the South Dakota Science Teaching Association. The event combines art and science and is a stand-alone competition, Shannon said.

“The South Dakota Science Teaching Association has a convention in Huron every year, and at that event they would have a physics photo competition, so I started having my photo students participate along with the science students,” Shannon said. “It’s a nice cross-collaboration.”

Kiner also took first place at that contest, followed by Mick in second place, Molle Jorgersen, a junior, in third place and Abe Gunnare, a senior, in fourth place. Kiner’s winning piece is an image of a rainbow cresting over a park.

It was another strong performance for her students in a different type of competition, Shannon said.

“In this case, it particularly helps them realize the crossover between different subject matters – physics and photography have come together and you’re photographing different phenomena,” Shannon said.

Both competitions help enhance the learning experience of her students, Shannon said. Creating art can be a very personal journey, and putting one’s work out there for the public or judges to see and evaluate can be intimidating. Students gain confidence in their own work when they participate in contests like these.

“I’m excited for them because students are taking a risk when they put any kind of art out there. They know it’s being judged. So when I can come back and say, hey, remember you entered this contest and here’s a check for some cash,” Shannon said. “That puts a value on their work, but it also encourages them to take more risks in their art.”

Shannon also said that South Dakota State Visual Arts Gallery will be open and displayed March 15 and 16, the same weekend as the Art Wars state finals, at the Best Western Plus Ramkota in Sioux Falls.

Erik Kaufman joined the Mitchell Republic in July of 2019 as an education and features reporter. He grew up in Freeman, S.D., graduating from Freeman High School. He graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1999 with a major in English and a minor in computer science. He can be reached at ekaufman@mitchellrepublic.com.