Anticipation, excitement, determination, confidence, stress… these are just some of the emotions that rush through almost anyone when there’s a competition in front of them. At Granite Art Night Live this is what happens with the contestants as much as any other competitor.

“I didn’t have background knowledge of exactly of what we were going to be doing, so I was really nervous because it was a totally new experience.” said junior Camilla Quezada.

About 60 of Granite Districts young artists were challenged with the tasks of being creative, coming up with something unique and eye catching as well as doing it the best you can and all while you’re being timed and watched. This tends to add some intense pressure to anyone. Alas, the competition was a success for everyone.

With the art mediums being mixed medium, hand built, painting, drawing, and wheel. Students had a plethora of ways to choose how to produce their pieces. Even though the contestants were on a time frame of 3 hours, the artists seemed to dovery well and the pieces themselves came out truly amazing whether they were finished or not.

The competition seemed to benefit students by challenging themselves to not just create but to also try seeing what they can do. Quezada mentioned that it was fun to see her own growth and what she was able to do within the time given.

A majority of the competitor’s inspirations sprouted from interesting origins. Some got their ideas from class projects while others found their muses in hobbies or loved ones. Some even went out of their way to be extra unique and generated their work in different ways. For example, one girl painted a dramatically lit profile of her mother looking out the window on a copper sheet instead of canvas while another captured the emotional wisdom in one of her grandparents, also with oil but on the usual preference of canvas, showing just how different nearly every artist can be. Some created their works with blasts of color, like when one young artist brought a jellyfish to life with pastels and prismacolor pencils. Others chose to use the darker mediums of pencil or charcoal. Few chose to use paper, but one competitor did an abstract person with just colored paper.

Unfortunately no Taylorsville students won any prizes, but there were winners from other schools in both judges categories (painting, wheel, drawing, etc.) and audience categories (people’s choice). In first place, the overall 2D category winner was Jorge Guittierez from Granger High and the overall 3D winner was Hue Dang from Kearns High. For people’s choice Bela Hatch from Kearns came in first. However, winner or not, everyone seemed to do a really great job and have a good time.

Quezada stated, “It was a fun experience and a good challenge.”