Jason Ly with his award-winning prints, (from left) “Kiss the Cook,” “No Worries” and “Doggy,” Photo by Bonnie Hobbs.
This month was one for awards — the Tonys, the Cappies and the National Scholastic Art and Writing honors. And on Friday, June 6, in New York City’s Carnegie Hall, national medals for art were officially awarded to two Chantilly High students.
Senior Diana Tsoy won a silver medal for her photography portfolio and classmate Jason Ly won a silver medal for printmaking. And Chantilly Art Department Chair Donna Sinclair couldn’t have been prouder.
“The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in the U.S.,” she said. “The judges look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. I congratulate Diana and Jason for their outstanding achievements.”
Tsoy has been actively doing photography since her sophomore year. “I love capturing different moments in nature that you can’t prolong and might not notice, otherwise,” she said. “For example, at sunrise, when the light changes — rare moments that most people don’t have time to appreciate.”
She also photographs people and, recently, began doing underwater photography. She picks a theme, explores it and then moves on to another.
For the Scholastic contest, Tsoy submitted a portfolio of eight photographs on one theme — all done in film-noir style. “Mine told a story of the irony of a crime in which the perpetrator ends up being the victim,” she said. “The work is very dramatic and shows contrast, the thought process and different angles.”
But she was really surprised to win an award for it. “Personally, it’s not my favorite work; I thought my paintings I’d submitted were stronger.” She also praised her teachers at Chantilly for making her a well-rounded artist.
“I get a good, painting-and-drawing experience with Ms. Sinclair, and she told me about colleges and their programs and scholarship opportunities,” said Tsoy. “And I’ve learned about photography from Ms. [Betty] Simmons, plus different techniques for studio photography and film development.”
In addition, she takes a fashion-design class at the Fairfax Academy. “And I’m doing an internship with a handbag designer in New York, [Washington] D.C. and Houston,” said Tsoy. “It helps me see the industry and figure out if I like it.”
After graduation, she’ll either attend Pratt, in Brooklyn, one of the top design schools, or the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. “I want to do design management, ultimately leading a visual-design team,” she said. “I’d be the creative director heading a team comprised of photographers, graphic designers and advertising experts. I want to design interior spaces, probably for commercial businesses.”
As for Ly, he took a printmaking class this year from teacher Zach Winfrey and is interested in silkscreen printing. “You bond a design onto a screen made of silk with an exposing unit and clean off the screen to expose the design underneath,” said Ly.
Next, he said, “We squeegee ink on top of the design, doing one color at a time on four different screens — and drawing each design individually. Then we print the design onto paper which we cut, ourselves. We use registration marks at the bottom of the print to align all four designs together. Then we squeegee the last color on top, laying it on paper to print the design.”
Ly especially likes making “abstract, whimsical things with bright, contrasting colors and some sort of hole inside the body. The designs come from doodling; I just do what seems cool to me.” He applied to four, different colleges and will hopefully continue with art, but hasn’t yet decided on a career.
At Chantilly, he said, “The teachers are good at making me take the initiative to do things.” For the Scholastic competition, he submitted three designs as one entry. “I didn’t think I’d get a medal because I thought I made mistakes in the printing,” said Ly. “So I was surprised, but happy.”
Sinclair teaches AP Drawing to Tsoy and Studio Art to Ly. “I’m very proud of them,” she said. “Scholastic really opens a lot of doors because it’s a nationally known award, and they deserve it. They both consistently work on their Art. Diana’s always painting and creating, and Jason’s in here before and after school, every day, working on his printing.
Simmons, Tsoy’s photography teacher, said her award “couldn’t have gone to a better person because Diana works on her craft all the time. She’s self-motivated and she deserves everything she’s gotten.”
And that’s the point, added Sinclair: “Scholastic created this competition 90 years ago so students in art and writing would get the same recognition as athletes.”