“It makes me hopeful!”
Art Loves Company spoke with Castle Freeman and Jo Dery, two of this year’s judges for the Vermont Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, about their experiences judging students’ submissions.
Freeman is a longtime Scholastic writing judge. He is the author of seven novels, 80 short stories, two story collections, and more than 100 essays. His most recently published novel is The Devil in the Valley. In 2019, he was awarded the Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.
Dery was a first-time Scholastic art judge this year. Her artwork includes animation, books, comics, works on paper, and multi-media projects. In 2012, she received the Helen Hill Award for innovative independent filmmakers. Her comics have been listed as "Notable Comics" in the Best American Comics series three times.
All winning Scholastic Art & Writing Awards entries will be on view at BMAC from February 15 through March 7, with an Awards Ceremony on March 7 at noon.
What is the experience of being a Scholastic judge like?
Castle Freeman: I find Scholastic judging to be both fun and a considerable responsibility. If you determine to do an honest, serious job, it takes a fair amount of time.
Jo Dery: I really appreciated my fellow judges, as well as the clarity of the criteria we used to judge the works. I agree with Castle—judging these works is a privilege. It was an honor to be trusted to award students’ hard work!
How would you describe your approach to judging entries?
CF: In assigning scores, I try to combine equal parts praise or encouragement and the upholding of traditional high written standards—the former being most important, to me, at least. Therefore, I make it my practice each year to give no “zero” grades and very few or no “tens.”
JD: With regard to the Visual Arts, I especially valued that “personal voice” was one of the criteria we used to judge the works. Our panel of judges kept coming back to that criterion when we had to make a tough decision about passing on a work to the next stage of competition.
How do you approach judging “personal voice”? How do you assess originality with such young artists?
CF: I suppose any writer, of any age, can have a personal voice; the point is to have a personal voice that has style, vitality, individuality. This is tough, surely, for writers of any age. In this year’s Scholastic entries, I remember an essay that was a riff on a Platonic dialogue. That seemed to me to show unusual ingenuity and originality.
JD: One piece that stood out for me was a ceramic sculpture of a headless cowboy. In a separate slide, showing an alternative view, the artist had also sculpted a cowboy hat. I loved both the craft and sense of humor in the work. I find that young artists really value their individuality—and by and large, they are using that singular perspective to respond to an increasingly tumultuous and uncertain world.
Stella Achenbach, Grade 12 - The Putney School "Cowboy", Gold Key, Ceramics & Glass
What are your thoughts about youth making art today?
CF: I’m always impressed by the average level of accomplishment shown by the Scholastic writers in terms of mechanics: spelling, grammar, usage, etc. The Scholastic writers aren’t professional grade (yet), but their standard of excellence is higher than I would have expected for people of their age and experience.
JD: From the pool of submissions that I reviewed, our youth are able to focus on both learning a craft and practicing self-expression. Some works showed the darker side of life as a teenager (anxiety, depression), some had a wonderful sense of humor (as I mentioned above!), and some showed a new skill set in use for the first time.
Installation view of the 2020 VT Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
As an arts professional, what does seeing the work of these young people make you think about the future?
CF: It makes me hopeful that the widespread mourning for the death of the book—the demise of writing and reading—is exaggerated.
JD: I am so inspired! I feel reconnected to the power of art and art-making to heal, connect, and transform individuals and communities.
All winning Scholastic Art & Writing Awards entries will be on view at BMAC from February 15 through March 7, with an Awards Ceremony on March 7 at noon.
