2008 Woodie Awards
Students awarded in Illustrators competition
Rachel Wagner
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: A & E
The Society of Illustrators of New York Student Scholarship Competition awarded three Sacred Heart University students for their talented artwork.
Francisco Flores, Leigh Koger, and Ryan Mauro were three out of 130 amazing artists whose pieces were selected out of 5,683 entries from 88 national institutions.
Flores was inspired by his heritage when he painted "Amigo" with watercolors. "I am from Ecuador and in my projects somehow I try to express my background and culture, so I had books from different countries in Latin America and some from Europe and Asia," said senior Flores.
"My painting 'Amigo' is done in watercolors and I choose the sepia tone to give it an old time feeling and also because it's such an emotional color that can illustrate happiness or melancholy."
Koger, who drew "Johnny Cash" in graphite, wasn't sure her piece was ready for a competition, but was grateful it won.
"I'd just want to give credit to my professor who entered the piece for me," said sophomore Koger. "I am beyond excited about getting into the Society of Illustrators, the honor that is involved with that is extremely high."
Ryan Mauro drew "James Dean," also in graphite.
"The judges of this competition only saw your image on the screen for about four seconds and then they voted if they liked it or not. So you can image how this is a big thing for all the participants," said Flores.
Professor John DeGraffenried, their art instructor, was actually the one who submitted the student's artwork.
"I attempt to select the best artwork each year from my illustration classes and submit them as entries to the two national competitions," said DeGraffenried.
"Francisco, Leigh and Ryan's acceptance into a national competition - competing against over 5600 students from predominately art schools and larger universities - represents a terrific accomplishment. Obviously, I cannot help but be extremely happy and proud of their having earned such an honor."
Flores, Koger and Mauro are not the first students to be honored with this prestigious award.
"In fact, between the Society in New York and the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (a separate organization), we have had 17 student illustrations make these two societies' individual exhibitions since 2004," said DeGraffenried.
To see their artwork and all of the winners nation wide, visit the Society of Illustrators Web site at http://www.soicompetitions.org
Francisco Flores, Leigh Koger, and Ryan Mauro were three out of 130 amazing artists whose pieces were selected out of 5,683 entries from 88 national institutions.
Flores was inspired by his heritage when he painted "Amigo" with watercolors. "I am from Ecuador and in my projects somehow I try to express my background and culture, so I had books from different countries in Latin America and some from Europe and Asia," said senior Flores.
"My painting 'Amigo' is done in watercolors and I choose the sepia tone to give it an old time feeling and also because it's such an emotional color that can illustrate happiness or melancholy."
Koger, who drew "Johnny Cash" in graphite, wasn't sure her piece was ready for a competition, but was grateful it won.
"I'd just want to give credit to my professor who entered the piece for me," said sophomore Koger. "I am beyond excited about getting into the Society of Illustrators, the honor that is involved with that is extremely high."
Ryan Mauro drew "James Dean," also in graphite.
"The judges of this competition only saw your image on the screen for about four seconds and then they voted if they liked it or not. So you can image how this is a big thing for all the participants," said Flores.
Professor John DeGraffenried, their art instructor, was actually the one who submitted the student's artwork.
"I attempt to select the best artwork each year from my illustration classes and submit them as entries to the two national competitions," said DeGraffenried.
"Francisco, Leigh and Ryan's acceptance into a national competition - competing against over 5600 students from predominately art schools and larger universities - represents a terrific accomplishment. Obviously, I cannot help but be extremely happy and proud of their having earned such an honor."
Flores, Koger and Mauro are not the first students to be honored with this prestigious award.
"In fact, between the Society in New York and the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (a separate organization), we have had 17 student illustrations make these two societies' individual exhibitions since 2004," said DeGraffenried.
To see their artwork and all of the winners nation wide, visit the Society of Illustrators Web site at http://www.soicompetitions.org
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