Middle School Art Exhibition BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS | 2024 | GRADES 6-8

Middle School Art Exhibition 2024

The Middle School Art Exhibition is recognizing the talented student artists in middle school art! The virtual exhibition consists of over 90 student artworks from Baltimore County Public middle schools, 6-8th grade. 24 selected artworks are on display at the Greenwood Administration Building A, 6901 Charles St, Towson, MD, 21204, from May 27, – August 31, 2024, from 9:00am-4:30pm. Student artists were recognized by grade level for Best in Show, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mention. A reception by invitation was held and awards were presented to students. Students’ works range from paintings, drawings, ceramics, mixed media, and sculptures. The Middle School Art Exhibition is the reflection of our student’s tremendous amount of artistic ability, skill development, art exploration, and making a meaningful connection to their work. We would like to congratulate all our student artists in this exhibit!

BCPS Visual Arts Office Gallery
The artworks appearing here in the Spotlight Artists section were juried and selected to be featured at the Greenwood Administration Building A, in Towson, Maryland. These artworks will be on display at this location until August 31, 2024.

6th Grade

1st Place

"Pumpkins" by Giselle Maglalang at Parkville Middle School, Grade 6
Getting the opportunity to work on value shading by drawing from observation made me so excited, especially with materials I've never studied before, charcoal. I was just focused on lines, shading and details. I wasn't focused on the bigger picture of proportions and placement. After all of my work and too much attention to details, I messed up my first step. I was frustrated and I kind of just wanted to give up. I started to breathe and opened my mind to calm myself down. After calming down, I tried again.

2nd Place

"Untitled" by Christina Collison at Cockeysville Middle School, Grade 6
I painted a frog using watercolors, trying to keep the realism of my artwork in mind. The frog I created was based on a picture of a small, green and blue frog sitting inside a colorful flower. This flower was full of shades of oranges and yellows, and that is what I recreated. I chose a frog because I believe frogs convey feelings of joy and happiness, and I wanted to make something joyful using watercolor techniques. The assignment was an exploration with watercolor techniques. The techniques I chose were "wet on wet", (which can be seen on the frog) and I used salt on the eyes (to make them look life-like). I executed my plan of what I wanted to do with my artwork, and I believe this is why it was successful.

3rd Place

"Untitled" by Jemima Forson at Golden Ring Middle School, Grade 6
I drew this anime girl because at the time I was feeling a little stuck. I was looking for lots of inspiration and was going through art block at the time. When I got the chance to draw anything for the split portrait, I thought of drawing something that was more within myself. I don't have red hair or green eyes, but the girl that I drew is who I feel like I am inside, an extroverted anime girl. The reason why she's holding a star is because I felt like I had found something which suits me the most, which is art. That also explains why her clothes aren't fully colored, it's supposed to represent me slowly finding my true self. Lastly, the reason why I chose an anime-like art style is because I like to watch anime from time to time usually with my older sister. It's kind of a comfort style which helps me remember the times we spend together whenever I draw.

Best in Show

"Self-Portrait" by Anya Bronson at Northwest Academy of Health Sciences, Grade 6
"My name is Anya Bronson, and my artwork is a self-portrait of myself. Some elements and principles used in my self-portrait are shape, texture, space, and proportion. The materials used for my artwork were paper bags, cardboard boxes, and cardboard cutouts. I stacked and layered these cardboard pieces on top of each other to create my face. Some lessons I learned from this artwork are that it takes time as well as trial and error to reach your goal and full potential. I struggled to get the hair right but after trying different solutions I found the best one that worked. My artwork has taught me and hopefully will teach others to not give up and continue to try until you succeed!"

Honorable Mention

"Concentric Shapes Design" by Camille McCray at Deer Park Magnet Middle School, Grade 6
When looking at my artwork, I want viewers to have a joyful feeling. I used bright colors like yellow, pink, red and blue. I used primary colors with different shades of blue to make the painting pop. I created concentric patterns with different shapes such as hearts, stars, squares, diamonds and more. I used watercolor paint and a thin brush to create the different patterns on the painting.

Honorable Mention

"Animal Drawing" by Emma Okoye at Deer Park Magnet Middle School, Grade 6
Teacher: My students studied the Lascaux Caves in France. We imagined what it might have been like to draw on walls inside a cave. We noticed that some drawing lines were smudged, some lines were sharp, and some lines were fluid. We experimented with different ways to use a charcoal stick. Students noticed which animals were depicted. We discussed why certain animals might have been chosen by prehistoric artists to depict on cave walls. Students discussed what animals they might like to include in spaces they use for living or ceremonial purposes. We looked at photographs of animals and chose some animals we connected with to draw in cave art style. Emma chose to draw a dog and a cat to make in cave art style. She also chose to include earth tones in her drawing, like the earth tones we saw in some of the cave art.

Honorable Mention

"Alebrije" by Thalia Htay at Loch Raven Technical Academy, Grade 6
Alebrijes are sculptures of fantastical creatures that have three or more different elements of animals that make up the final product. They represent the magic of creativity and have a role in the spiritual world. First, I had to make a drawing of what I wanted my alebrije to look like. Then I started making the skeleton out of tin foil. Next, I plastered the skeleton so that I could paint and so that my alebrije would hold its shape. Finally, I painted on the base colors with their designs and facial features. I chose white as a base because it was light and basic in general, blue, and pink were also chosen because of how good they were together. They were generally not complementary colors, but they still look good together considering it’s like cotton candy colors! The white sums it up because of how all those three colors are light.

Honorable Mention

"COLOR MEMORY" by Thomas Bart at Sudbrook Magnet Middle School, Grade 6
My artwork looks like two friends at a playground, and they find a fuzzy caterpillar thing in an egg. It uses green yellow and greenish yellow for color. I used a triangle type of composition. To Begin this piece, I made some thumbnail sketches. I picked the mountain of heads type composition because I decided it would look better. I sketched out the finalized piece on a big sheet of paper. Then I started adding base colors with oil pastels until everything had the base colors then I shaded with darker greens and added some highlights by using my fingernail. I chose green and yellow for the scheme because they are powerful colors and gave the right emotion or feeling to the piece. This artwork is important to me because it will help me remember one of the best memories from my preschool years. It also features one of my best friends.

7th Grade

1st Place

""Puppy Love" by Willa Prue at Dumbarton Middle School, Grade 7
Puppy Love started with a dog. One of my two dogs, specifically. In December 2023, my family adopted a black-and-white puppy under the temporary name of Sweet Potato. He was bubbly, snuggly, and adorably sweet - that is, until we found out he was a tiny force of destruction as well as a cuddly pup. But we took that bundle of chaos home, named him Hugo, and at 7 ½ months old, he is a bundle of exuberance and, at the end of the day, joy. Puppy Love was inspired by my early days with Hugo when he would leap up at me when I got home from school with heaps of energy. He still does. And that’s why I made this art piece. I love you, Hugo. I can’t wait to grow up with you and keep having moments full of puppy love like this.

2nd Place

"Portrait" by Khaliea McCullough at Sparrows Point Middle School, Grade 7
The portrait you see here is of the artist ‘Tyler, The Creator’. Done in cubism and the medium oil pastel to show his unique ways of his music, style, and language. In the portrait I wanted to use color to really express how Tyler’s music is filled with wordplay and good videos, like his song “Glitter”.

3rd Place

"The Great Potato" by Maya Cortez Rivera at Lansdowne Middle School, Grade 7
I chose to make a collage representation of a potato. I chose that because I like to eat potatoes and cook them. I started planning my collage by the first day we started. I built my collage by finding the colors of the newspaper. The final step of the collage was to seal it with Mod Podge. The colors I used for my collage are multiple shades or brown, some shades of blue going light to dark, and the same thing for the pink and black. I placed different shades of browns by doing dark on the bottom and light on the top. The most difficult part of making a collage was the potato because finding the multiple shades of light brown was hard since none of them seemed to fit. I overcame that difficulty by changing some of the dark colors to blend into the light colors that I had. My favorite feature in the collage is the blue gradient on the top. The finished collage is expressing who I am because I think it shows that I learned something new during the time I was planning what I was going to make for my project and since I learned how to make fries, I drew a potato.

Best in Show

"Untitled" by Emma Whitlock at Cockeysville Middle School, Grade 7
This piece was made to work on technique and layering. During the making of this piece, I was able to build up rich colors and soft fades, because of the analogous the opaqueness of the colors was crucial. The process was very trial and error, but in the end, it worked out.

Honorable Mention

"Impressionism Landscape Painting" by Maya Devine at Catonsville Middle School, Grade 7
For this piece, I made kids going to fly kites by the river. I used Q tips to make the individual dots to create an intricate but impressionistic painting. The single dots and strokes made the tree leaves and grass have texture. By creating shades and tints of colors, it gave the objects value.

Honorable Mention

"Rising Sun" by Danyel Forrester at the Virtual Learning Program, Grade 7
The name of my painting is Sunrise Over the Mountains. Surprisingly enough I used Crayola watercolor paint, watercolor paper, and multiple sizes of Crayola paint brushes to create my Japanese Sumi-e painting. The most challenging aspect of my creation was overcoming my self-doubt. I have never created anything like this before, and I was nervous that it would not come out well. My artistic inspiration usually comes from social media and my father. My father can draw very well and often offers support and guidance. I like to recreate techniques that I have watched on YouTube and TikTok. I enjoy all things artsy, this includes painting, crocheting, drawing with paper and pencil and digitally. I love going to Michael’s with my mom to see what new supplies they have, right now I am crocheting my first blanket. I have been thinking about what to do after high school, and attending MICA is a big possibility, especially since it’s so close to home.

Honorable Mention

"Still Life with Fruits" by Ava Horton at Pine Grove Middle School, Grade 7
"My artwork consists of an orange, a green apple, and a pear. I created the drawing by using oil pastels and mixing the colors. I started it by drawing the shapes in pencil and outlining it in black oil pastels. Then, I picked out colors I thought matched how the fruits looked in real life. Then, I started coloring and gradually added darker colors for the shadows. Finally, I started blending them and adding highlights. I think it turned out well and I am proud of it, seeing as it is my first time using oil pastels. The art elements I focused on are line, shape, form, value and color."

Honorable Mention

"Stump House" by Aria Cardineau at Loch Raven Technical Academy, Grade 7
"My ceramic art piece is a fairytale tiny woodland house. It was inspired by the woods and that fact that a lot of fairytale creatures are depicted in the woods and would probably want their house's to blend in to the environment as to not be discovered. I decided to make a tree stump because it gives it a more natural look. It looks like its been there for years. I feel that the mix of glaze colors and the extra edition of the moss added a more ancient look to it."

8th Grade

1st Place

"Self-Portrait with Cat and Dog" by Adelaide Bylkas-Moore at Dumbarton Middle School, Grade 8
"I created this self-portrait to embody parts of my personality as well as my physical appearance. I have a very humorous personality, and the facial expression embodies that aspect of myself. In the background, there are two animals, my pets. I have a love for animals, and my pets in particular. In the artistic process, I paid close attention to value and the changes of value. I made sure that my face, the focal point of the artwork, had extreme highlights and shadows to emphasize the focal point."

2nd Place

"Irish Pancakes" by Shelby Ochlech at Ridgely Middle School, Grade 8
My food sculpture is a sculpture of pancakes. This connects to my identity because I am Irish and pancakes originally came from Ireland. Eating pancakes on Tuesdays became a pretty popular tradition during the 17th century in Ireland. This was called Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day which is a traditional Irish holiday. This became a tradition in Ireland mainly because ingredients like eggs, milk, and sugar which are used in things like pancakes were some of the few ingredients available before Lent. I love the idea of Pancake Tuesday because it seems like a great way for people to connect and celebrate the start of Lent together. Along with being a tradition in Ireland, pancakes are a pretty common breakfast food for my community along with waffles. Pancakes sometimes help me to connect with others because we can discuss our favorite things we like to put on our pancakes like butter, bananas, and blueberries. The question “Do you prefer waffles or pancakes?” is a common question people ask when getting to know you. I love this question because it helps me to connect with others in my community. That is how my sculpture connects to my identity. I selected pancakes as the food I decided to sculpt for this project because it is one of my favorite foods. I eat pancakes a lot during the weekends like on Saturday morning, Sunday morning before church, and sometimes even for dinner. I love to put bananas, strawberries, and whipped cream, and only sometimes do I put syrup but not very often. Overall, I had a really fun time making this sculpture and I think it turned out great!

3rd Place

"Self-Portrait with Flower" by Anyeli Juarez-Hernandez at Lansdowne Middle School, Grade 8
This is my self-portrait that I have drawn most recently, the flowers and the books all behind myself has a meaning for me, I'm a really flowers and roses and all that had to do with Nature person and I love everything that has to do with it so I decided to draw that as my background it was simple for me to draw so the focus point would be on my face. The books behind me on the shelf are also something that represents me as well, I love reading books such as poems, informative books, etc. At the beginning of the self-portrait I was really nervous and tried to focus on my face, mostly trying to make it as accurate as possible, make multiple shades, even add different details around the whole face, on my hair and even including my clothes. You can Notice that I also have a flower on my hand I tried to do that because I really liked the flower when I saw it and it was really eye catching for me when I saw it on my teachers classroom, I decided to put the flower around my hand so it didn't look that simple and to show that the flower was coming forward and not just as a flat 2D drawing of a flower.

Best in Show

"Tousled" by Audrey Norton at Hereford Middle School, Grade 8
I chose to paint with watercolor and acrylic to express my soul through various colors. I chose this option because it allows me to use my imagination and it is also a tedious process which I like. The color black represents the times when I zone out, teal represents my moral and supportive moments, mauve represents my sentiments, and yellow represents the optimistic and joyful parts of my life. I think that I successfully portrayed my “opposites” personality with the background by using yellow and mauve watercolor brushstrokes on the top to show my fiery and extroverted side, but then painting longer and cooler toned wisps to show my chill and introspective side. A title I would give my portrait is “Tousled” because my personality and appearance are all over the place.

Honorable Mention

"Elf from the Mountains" by Richard Watters at Ridge Ruxton School, Grade 8
My artwork is titled: Elf from the Mountains. I used my communication device to make color, shape and template choices. My elf is good and lives in the mountains and on a spaceship. I used orange, red, green, purple, and blue acrylic paint. My artwork is inspired by fantasy. My favorite part of this project was painting. When I look at my finished art, I feel happy!

Honorable Mention

"Shocked Selfie" by Dayana Molina Gonzalez at Loch Raven Technical Academy, Grade 8
"This is a portrait I made using black and white charcoal. I chose this pose because I think it shows the shocking emotion I wanted to capture for this artwork, I also added a light source to capture the highlights and shadows in the piece."

Honorable Mention

"Endgame" by Sylvia Schmidt at Loch Raven Technical Academy, Grade 8
The dragon’s hand sculpture was made in class with the prompt of ‘balance’. The sculpture depicts a dragon’s severed hand with a sword jutting from the center of the palm. The process of such a piece follows my thought of good versus evil, or heroes against villains to answer the prompt of balance. I had chosen such a theme because, if not for good, there would be no bad to compare it too. There would simply be the void of neutral. As such, good and bad keep each other balanced and appreciated in their own right, from there I was inspired by a classic example of such opposites. The rivalry of knights and dragons. From there I began to sculpt the hand of the dragon then inserted the sword in its place. Over the sculpting process I gave the hand scars and the severing wound of the wrist as well as shards of the sword to add character and story to the piece. While the dragon, our villain, is more clearly defeated, the hero, our knight, is nowhere to be found. With that simple fact I hoped that a tale could be woven from this dragon’s defeat. Although our dragon was slain, our lonely sword and it’s broken shards tell of how our hero, our good, no longer exists without its evil. Once more looping back to the prompt and theme I had followed with this project.

Honorable Mention

"Still Life Reflections" by Sweetness David-Adesua at Parkville Middle School, Grade 8

Background artwork by at , Grade

Grade 6

"HOPE" by Seth Aguirre, Grade 6, Pikesville Middle School
"Self-Portrait" by Edwin Mejia Garcia, Grade 6, Holabird Middle/STEM School
"Underwater Castle" by Alisson Ramirez Guevara, Grade 6, Holabird Middle/STEM School
"Domino Study 10x" by Sophia Whitlow, Grade 6, General John Stricker Middle School
"Phone Study" by Logan Poremski, Grade 6, General John Stricker Middle School
"4 Piece Happy Meal" by Amy Huang, Grade 6, Arbutus Middle School
"Crying Cloud" by Maya Kunicky, Grade 6, Ridgely Middle School
"Robins Hood Bay" by Maci McIntosh, Grade 6, Ridgely Middle School
"Of Sky and Water" by Carolyne Vicente Sandoval, Grade 6, Lansdowne Middle School
"Alebrije" by Alana Baker, Grade 6, Loch Raven Technical Academy
"Art" by Aliyah Mcfadden, Grade 6, Sudbrook Magnet Middle School
"Coat of Arms" by Nguncer Lian, Grade 6, Arbutus Middle School
"Self-Portrait" by Brooklynn Cary, Grade 6, Northwest Academy of Health Sciences
"Color Memory" by Ollie Sinnot, Grade 6, Sudbrook Magnet Middle School

Grade 7

"Cartoon Self-Portrait" by Marilyn Katzen, Grade 7, Pikesville Middle School
"Critically Endangered: The San Clemente Island Goat" by Sofia Prendes, Grade 7, Hereford Middle School
"Endangered African Forest Elephant" by Maliyah Bennett, Grade 7, Hereford Middle School
"Impressionism Landscape Painting" by Nathan Story, Grade 7, Catonsville Middle School
"Exquisite Corpse" by Brooklyn Shaw, Grade 7, Sudbrook Magnet Middle School
"Album Cover" by Gabriel Jenkins, Grade 7, Sudbrook Magnet Middle School
"Egyptian Queen" by Kmayah Milhous, Grade 7, Perry Hall Middle School
"Self-Portrait" by Riley Foster, Grade 7, Perry Hall Middle School
"Scaled Warrior - The Pangolin" by Violette Fogle, Grade 7, Hereford Middle School
"DC Cherry Blossoms" by Maxine Maire, Grade 7, Catonsville Middle School
"Self-Portrait in Red and Green" by Taraji Jukes, Grade 7, Lansdowne Middle School
"Self-Portrait with Color Background" by D'Vea Williams, Grade 7, Lansdowne Middle School
"Nemo's Basket" by Aiden Dorris, Grade 7, Battle Monument School
"Candy Still Life" by Wynter King, Grade 7, Parkville Middle School
"Typography Design" by Jackson Damon, Grade 7, Parkville Middle School
"Character & Cover Design" by Kaylee Neisser, Grade 7, Parkville Middle School
"Time to Draw" by Kylie Neisser, Grade 7, Parkville Middle School
"Keeping It Cool" by Madeline Cannon, Grade 7, Arbutus Middle School
"Fruit Still Life" by Penny Kowal, Grade 7, Pine Grove Middle School
"Portrait" by Brooklynn Gross, Grade 7, Sparrows Point Middle School
"Portrait" by Brandon McCraney, Grade 7, Sparrows Point Middle School

Grade 8

"Self-Portrait in Art Room" by Carlos Diaz-Roque, Grade 8, Lansdowne Middle School
"Tired and Annoyed" by Maya Hall, Grade 8, Perry Hall Middle School
"Hrvatska" by Anja Durkovic, Grade 8, Perry Hall Middle School
"The Flight of Icarus" by Abi Di Liberto, Grade 8, Perry Hall Middle School
"Self-Portrait" by Nasir Cook, Grade 8, Southwest Academy School
"The Bridge" by Maimoona Toor, Grade 8, Southwest Academy School
"Balance" by Chrissy Cafirma, Grade 8, Loch Raven Technical Academy
"By Any Other Name" by Marlye Putchat, Grade 8, Hereford Middle School
"Caterpillar Train" by Royce Kirk, Grade 8, Dumbarton Middle School
"Doughnut Skating in Space" by Fredliyah Binda, Grade 8, Dumbarton Middle School
"Non-Objective Music Design" by Gabriel Njoroge, Grade 8, Franklin Middle School
"Tropical Paradise" by Lucas Garrison, Grade 8, Ridgely Middle School
"My Eye" by Sophia Xu, Grade 8, Ridgely Middle School
"Hercules Beetle" by Alicia Hanks, Grade 8, Virtual Learning Program
"Batman Cake" by Jayden Brinkley, Daryelle Ballard, Jelin Cabbagestalk, Ja'niya Davidson Smith, and Dimitri Batchelor, Grade 8, Loch Raven Technical Academy
"Cherry Blossoms" by Stephanie Sharp, Grade 8, Maiden Choice School
"In My Room" by Lilian Gilbert, Grade 8, Parkville Middle School
"Still Life Vibrations" by Amaya Arceo, Grade 8, Parkville Middle School
"Rolling Stones Pop Art" by Camiya Boyn, Grade 8, Arbutus Middle School
"Mouse-bit" by Aniah Gray, Grade 8, Sudbrook Magnet Middle School
"Kpop Idol" by Enya Kumoji Lester, Grade 8, Arbutus Middle School
"Shapes of Life" by Madison Holcomb, Grade 8, Virtual Learning Program
"A Bird's Resting Place" by Lynai Burrell, Grade 8, Virtual Learning Program
"Self-Portraits" by Irene Chao, Grade 8, Pine Grove Middle School
"The Call of Spring" by Varia Auat, Grade 8, Virtual Learning Program
"Pen and Ink Study" by Dublin Horst, Grade 8, Cockeysville Middle School
"Lost in Books" by Daksha Senthil Murugan, Grade 8, Cockeysville Middle School
"Hybrid Animal" by Malia Lewis, Grade 8, Northwest Academy of Health Sciences
"Self-Portrait" by Rose Rivera-Paz, Grade 8, Northwest Academy of Health Sciences
"Surreal Room" by Samiyah Dumas, Grade 8, Northwest Academy of Health Sciences
"Chanel #5" by Joelle Clark, Grade 8, Catonsville Middle School