ROCHELLE — Seven of the 12 Rochelle Township High School  entries at the NIB-12 Conference Art Show on March 10 were awarded ribbons. This awesome showing resulted in a first place tie in the Conference with DeKalb High School.

Senior Mario Rocha, a student in AP Studio Art, received a first place finish in Drawing (color) and was named Best in Show. Titled, ‘Nirvannah,’ Mario said, “I chose the subject to connect to the viewer and make them feel happy. I liked the partial smile, not showy but still present. It means happiness, a state of mind and very important to the girl in the picture.”
Rocha also said what he learned from the assignment was that more somber colors can still be engaging.
It is one you definitely need to take a closer look at. It is created with purple Bic pen – yep, the ones you write with every day.
Kayla Carpenter stepped out of her comfort zone for her computer generated art piece. It’s called ‘Bird on a Wire’.
“Birds are something I love,” she said. “I combined the images using Photoshop, adding and editing layers to create a composition of color, contrast, and movement. It’s one of the few times I’ve used Photoshop for more than color correcting.”

Judy Fulgencio’s photo montage piece is titled ‘Aco coxochitl’ and she clothed her subject in a dress to create rhythm and painted her model’s face to alter the mood.
“I enjoyed mixing film and digital photography. The film enhanced the contrast while the digital enhanced the vibrant colors,” she said.
Judy has danced folkloric ballet since childhood. “The piece represents part of my cultural identity, which I value.”
Lisette Milan’s neutral drawing is of her godmother’s daughter whom she adores.
“Throughout the project I learned different techniques to create contrast as well as how to make it realistic. The key was to make it really dark in specific areas to differentiate the light values,” Milan said.
Ben Pflipsen’s altered photograph, ‘Mind Too Full’, was arrived at
via an entirely experimental process he called, “selective developing.”
He combined photo chemicals and cotton balls to develop sections of the photo to varying degrees.
Ashlynn Lawrence won third place in Ceramics.
Her ceramic plates were made on the wheel then raku fired, a special glazing process that is done by heating over fire and cooling in water.
Cesca Vardman’s painting also took third place. This was a piece she drew at Anderson Japanese Gardens on a field trip and then turned into a watercolor once back at school.
Other competitors were Ashlynn Leininger and Damesis Carrillo-Valdez in mixed media, Alva Valle in drawing - color, and Austin Tracey in ceramics hand building.