In the Wilderness by Sarah Chung
Essay by Alaina Fisher
1st Place, Division 1, 2014 Jerry Tollifson Art Criticism Open
School: The Summit Country Day School, Teacher: Jan Wiesner, Southwest Region
In the is artwork I see an owl in the front, a snake slithering up a tree branch, a wolf
howling on a mountain at the moon, and the sky starts at purple then fades into dark blue. The
stars are pink. The snake is two different greens and the snake has its tongue out. The tree it is on
has two browns mixed together. The owl is pretty much the first thing you look at. It is yellow,
orange, and gray and it looks like a fire colored owl from the colors. It is the focus of the picture
because its wings are spread out and it’s like he is looking at you.
This is the story the piece is telling: The owl looks like it wants to eat the snake because the
snake is in front of the owl and the owls head is a little turned towards the snake. The wolf looks
like he doesn’t care because he is in the back with his eyes closed. You can definitely see him
because he is black in front of white. The grass has brown in the back and there is yellow in the
front but you don’t see a lot of grass because the focus is the animals. The owl’s wing looks like it
is resting in the tree.
I like this piece because it shows what could happen in the wilderness. The snake is
slithering up the tree and you can see only one of its eyes. Other than that the tree has nothing on
it. There is a lot of night sky. You can definitely see that the owl has feathers underlined in orange.
Its head has orange on the bottom and the body and beak are orange. The tree has four branches
sticking out of the tree and the snake is on one of the tree branches. One of the tree branches
looks really tall but it is not it is just up close so it looks that way.
Winter Landscape at Louveciennes by Camille Pissarro
Essay by Cohen Ellis
2nd Place (tie), Division 1, 2014 Jerry Tollifson Art Criticism Open
School: Primary Village South, Teacher: Suzanne Mitolo, West Region
The artist may have drawn it because he went on a campout or picnic. The background has
trees, people’s houses and clouds. The houses look old. There is a rhythm of houses; tall, short,
tall, short… The artist put patterns in it like the fence. The trees are easy to see. The artist thought
the people were the most important. Boy going on a campout is the theme. The people are away
from their houses. The people are where the trees are. It is fall because leaves are falling down.
The people have pants and long sleeve shirts because the weather is cool. It looks like the sun is
going down. The artist wanted people to think about people on a campout. I liked it because it is
something you could do. The artist was happy that he did this good.
Timeless Beauty by Lauren Park
Essay by Kyleigh Sandker
2 Place (tie), Division 1, 2014 Jerry Tollifson Art Criticism Open
nd
School: The Summit Country Day School, Teacher: Jan Wiesner, Southwest Region
In this artwork I see light pink and red colors mixed together in a rose. I also see a girl who
is smelling the rose, it probably smells good. I see so many butterflies that are different colors like
purple and dark blue mixed together and a really light blue and white mixed together. I also see
petals floating off the rose and going into the air. There is a broken clock I think the girl broke
because she didn’t want time to end. I see a chain hanging from the ceiling and then going back to
the ceiling. I also see that the walls are painted brown like the girl’s hair.
This is the story the piece is telling: There is a girl who thinks she is a beautiful girl so she
decided she wanted to draw a picture about how beautiful she is. It looks like she opened her
window and let butterflies in and decided she realized how beautiful her world is so she wanted to
break her clock because she didn’t want time to pass. It also looks like she went down to her yard
and got a rose to bring into her house. The wind was blowing so hard the petals started to float
around. It also looks like she loves butterflies so much that she has a hair clip with a butterfly on it.
I think the girl opened the window and that the wind is coming in the through the window and
blowing the girls hair everywhere. I am wondering if the designs on the wall are made of glass or if
they are made of clear plastic. She is a very pretty girl. As soon as I looked at it I knew I was going
to choose it. The broken clock inspired me and also the rose. The rose is also very pretty to me
because my middle name is Rose so I love roses.
I like it because the butterflies are so pretty. I love the colors of the butterflies and I really
like the rose’s petals floating off the rose and going into the air. I also really like the designs on the
walls. I love the girl’s hair clip with a butterfly on it. What is actually inspiring me is all the baby
butterflies in the air. I like how I can see the gears inside the clock.
A Magical House on the Orange Tree by Shlomit Malka Zaltsman
Essay by Allison Burns
3rd Place, Division 1, 2014 Jerry Tollifson Art Criticism Open
School: The Summit Country Day School, Teacher: Jan Wiesner, Southwest Region
In this artwork I see a lot of brown trees in the background with light and dark green fluffy
tree leaves. There are two men wearing caps, long sleeve shirts, googles, and tool belts. In the
front there is a big orange tree. On the orange tree is a partly built wooden tree house. The
orange tree has very, very long branches, long enough that the tree does not have visible leaves. In
the background there is a variety of light blues in the sky. The sky has bunches of white puffy
clouds all over.
This is the story this piece is telling: There are two men building a tree house. One of the
men is standing on a very tall ladder holding the tree house in place. The other man is sitting on a
tree branch of the orange tree, hammering part of the tree house. The man sitting is wearing a
yellow shirt and the other man is wearing a red shirt. They both are wearing blue jeans. It looks
like they are working really hard. I am guessing the two men are experienced in tree house
building because they are kind of far in building the tree house. I think this because they look like
they are building and the painting is called A Magical House on an Orange Tree. They are using
tools on the orange tree with wood so I thought that they were building a tree house.
I like it because the artist made a lot of good detailed wood with squiggles, dark browns
and light browns which really caught my eye. The orange tree is very eye catching also. The artist
made it amazing to look at it because the orange tree is in the front of the painting and the rest of
the brown trees, in the back, are brown which is interesting.