By Helen Li
We have seven winners for the 2020-2021 school year’s bookmark contests. Liza Chaplinskaya and Luke Cipolla in Grade 8, Erica Cho in Grade 9, Henry Zhao in Grade 10, Geneva Ge and Anna Tretiakova in Grade 11, and lastly, Anoushka Taylor in Grade 12. This year is our fourth annual contest. Ms Vande Kraats stated that the contest was created with the “objective of creating an original two-sided design that promotes reading and connects to the year's theme: DEI.”
Below are some of their artist statements, explaining the idea behind each of their fabulous works.
Erica Cho (Grade 9):
“The focus for this year was diversity, equity and inclusion, and I wanted to emphasize this in my design. On both sides of the bookmark design, I included a set of hands. I wanted the viewer to see these as a pair of hands that could belong to anyone. To do this, I decided to colour the hands with sections of various different colours. I wanted to put forward the message that anyone, regardless of your background, culture, race, etc., could enjoy a great book. In the design with the two hands reaching for each other, I wrote “a book opens up a world both you and I can fall into.” To me, no matter how different or similar you are, a book creates a place that you and any other person can experience together. I think that this is amazing and I’ve always loved how our favourite books can bring people together.”
She went on to explain that “materials-wise, I used my favourite medium when creating art, prismacolor pencils. I enjoy using these pencil crayons because of their dense, vibrant finish. I wanted my bookmark to catch the eye, so I thought these pencil crayons would be perfect. Especially, on the side where the hands are holding a book, I wanted to use that full, solid look that prismacolors have to its advantage. Finally, to finish and polish the piece, I simply used a thin sharpie to outline the drawings.”
Henry Zhao (Grade 10):
“My bookmark has one side, with a spaceship, an airship, a sailboat, and a submarine. The other side has a person standing on the top of a mountain, with a dragon eclipsing the sun. This artwork was created digitally, using a program called Procreate on my iPad. The first side was mainly a reference to many classic "genres" of books. They are sci-fi, steampunk, adventure, and a specific reference to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The other side was a reference to my first bookmark. I didn't have many specific goals for this artwork, I just wanted to make a cool looking bookmark. I think it turned out alright, though the second side could probably be improved.”
Anna Tretiakova (theme Grade 11):
“My bookmark focuses on the DEI themes as well as the idea the library focused on: books allowing individuals to grow and thrive. To make my bookmark come to life, I used colouring pencils and markers. The front part is a drawing of an apartment complex with people all over the world reading books. There are some animals too! This goes to show that despite people’s differences, everyone can share the same passion for reading and live together in harmony. The other side of my bookmark displays a watering pot watering plants with letters. This illustrates that reading can enrich one's vocabulary and thinking process.
I chose to participate in the bookmark contest because I was inspired by my Individual Research Report project from AP Seminar 11. I researched a lot about discrimination in healthcare and reading people’s stories made me realize how one-sided the human experience is. Each person can only truly feel their own emotions. This makes solving the issue of racism very hard. I wanted to raise more awareness of how prevalent racism is in everyday life and most of the time is subconscious.”
Geneva Ge (Grade 11):
“My bookmark is an amalgamation of ideas inspired by several different texts; it is as equally influenced by Lovecraft as the Odyssey, and even some novels I haven’t read yet, such as Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the sea. I know next to nothing about Verne’s novel, but I was inspired as the title itself summons dramatic images of the colossal creatures and tempests of the sea. The piece initially started off as illustrating parts of the Odyssey, but ended up becoming an original piece with a one-eyed, kraken-like squid fiercely entangled with a ship, as the scaly back of another sea monster moves in the foreground. It was really enjoyable to draw and the colour palette remains one of my favourites!”
These artists went all out on their amazing bookmark designs, bringing a dash of creativity into our library. Let’s hope that the submissions next year will be as wonderful as this one!
We have seven winners for the 2020-2021 school year’s bookmark contests. Liza Chaplinskaya and Luke Cipolla in Grade 8, Erica Cho in Grade 9, Henry Zhao in Grade 10, Geneva Ge and Anna Tretiakova in Grade 11, and lastly, Anoushka Taylor in Grade 12. This year is our fourth annual contest. Ms Vande Kraats stated that the contest was created with the “objective of creating an original two-sided design that promotes reading and connects to the year's theme: DEI.”
Below are some of their artist statements, explaining the idea behind each of their fabulous works.
Erica Cho (Grade 9):
“The focus for this year was diversity, equity and inclusion, and I wanted to emphasize this in my design. On both sides of the bookmark design, I included a set of hands. I wanted the viewer to see these as a pair of hands that could belong to anyone. To do this, I decided to colour the hands with sections of various different colours. I wanted to put forward the message that anyone, regardless of your background, culture, race, etc., could enjoy a great book. In the design with the two hands reaching for each other, I wrote “a book opens up a world both you and I can fall into.” To me, no matter how different or similar you are, a book creates a place that you and any other person can experience together. I think that this is amazing and I’ve always loved how our favourite books can bring people together.”
She went on to explain that “materials-wise, I used my favourite medium when creating art, prismacolor pencils. I enjoy using these pencil crayons because of their dense, vibrant finish. I wanted my bookmark to catch the eye, so I thought these pencil crayons would be perfect. Especially, on the side where the hands are holding a book, I wanted to use that full, solid look that prismacolors have to its advantage. Finally, to finish and polish the piece, I simply used a thin sharpie to outline the drawings.”
Henry Zhao (Grade 10):
“My bookmark has one side, with a spaceship, an airship, a sailboat, and a submarine. The other side has a person standing on the top of a mountain, with a dragon eclipsing the sun. This artwork was created digitally, using a program called Procreate on my iPad. The first side was mainly a reference to many classic "genres" of books. They are sci-fi, steampunk, adventure, and a specific reference to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The other side was a reference to my first bookmark. I didn't have many specific goals for this artwork, I just wanted to make a cool looking bookmark. I think it turned out alright, though the second side could probably be improved.”
Anna Tretiakova (theme Grade 11):
“My bookmark focuses on the DEI themes as well as the idea the library focused on: books allowing individuals to grow and thrive. To make my bookmark come to life, I used colouring pencils and markers. The front part is a drawing of an apartment complex with people all over the world reading books. There are some animals too! This goes to show that despite people’s differences, everyone can share the same passion for reading and live together in harmony. The other side of my bookmark displays a watering pot watering plants with letters. This illustrates that reading can enrich one's vocabulary and thinking process.
I chose to participate in the bookmark contest because I was inspired by my Individual Research Report project from AP Seminar 11. I researched a lot about discrimination in healthcare and reading people’s stories made me realize how one-sided the human experience is. Each person can only truly feel their own emotions. This makes solving the issue of racism very hard. I wanted to raise more awareness of how prevalent racism is in everyday life and most of the time is subconscious.”
Geneva Ge (Grade 11):
“My bookmark is an amalgamation of ideas inspired by several different texts; it is as equally influenced by Lovecraft as the Odyssey, and even some novels I haven’t read yet, such as Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the sea. I know next to nothing about Verne’s novel, but I was inspired as the title itself summons dramatic images of the colossal creatures and tempests of the sea. The piece initially started off as illustrating parts of the Odyssey, but ended up becoming an original piece with a one-eyed, kraken-like squid fiercely entangled with a ship, as the scaly back of another sea monster moves in the foreground. It was really enjoyable to draw and the colour palette remains one of my favourites!”
These artists went all out on their amazing bookmark designs, bringing a dash of creativity into our library. Let’s hope that the submissions next year will be as wonderful as this one!