Art students win national awards

Two Sisters students are among three from all of Central Oregon to receive prestigious national awards for their artwork in the annual Scholastic Arts and Writing Competition.

As regional Gold Key winners, Dani Rudinski, Sisters High School (SHS) junior, and Alena Albertson, Sisters Middle School eighth-grader, had their pieces judged with over 16,500 other entries from across the country. From those, 2,050 national medals were awarded, and Dani and Alena each received a Silver Key award.

Rudinski follows in the footsteps of several other Sisters high-schoolers to win the national award, but Albertson is the first middle school student from Sisters to be nationally recognized.

The girls' work is available to be seen until March 29 at the Sisters Library community room, where the work of all the Sisters regional winners are displayed. In the library computer room there is also an exhibit of artwork done by Sisters Elementary School students.

Rudinski's entry is a handcrafted necklace titled "Rough Edges," which she constructed from recycled materials, including mahogany scraps from the high school woodshop and nickel silver scrap-metal. She added some mother-of-pearl and semi-precious stones to the creation.

Albertson's award-winner is a colorful acrylic painting titled "Actions of Life," and is her first contest entry of any kind.

Both students have attended Sisters schools from the beginning of their school years.

Rudinski has been involved in music and art programs including the Americana Project, where she plays guitar and piano. She has attended the youth song camp and the annual Sisters Folk Festival song camp at Suttle Lake.

She has always enjoyed drawing, but became interested in jewelry making when she took Bethany Gunnarson's class her sophomore year. She took a community ceramics class while in grade school, and the middle school art classes. Last year Rudinski received a Scholastic honorable mention award for her clay sculpture.

This year Dani's academic schedule precluded her from taking any art classes, but she goes in to work on projects on her own during the 30-minute advisory period. She confessed that the necklace only took her a couple of days to construct, and she made it for herself, with no consideration of the contest. She enjoys making jewelry to give as gifts to friends and family.

Rudinsky said that the Silver Key award "is a validation of my creativity. People's reaction to my winning the award has been very supportive." Plans for Dani's future include taking a gap year after high school graduation to engage in a discipleship training program before enrolling in a four-year college. She plans to study language, education and ministries to prepare for a career as a missionary.

Albertson started dabbling in art as a very young girl to entertain herself, since her brother Zander, a SHS graduate, was several years older. She enjoys exploring all art mediums and particularly likes pencil sketching.

Although Alena's plans for the future revolve around being a detective, she knows that art will always be a part of her life. She would love to travel and to go to college in the UK. In her free time Albertson enjoys participating in taekwondo and running cross-country.

Both girls are eligible to travel with a parent to New York in June for the award ceremony at Carnegie Hall and would very much like to attend. At this point the expense of the trip puts it out of reach for them. Local individuals and/or organizations can offer some assistance. Albertson says she is willing to do any kind of jobs or chores to earn money for the trip. She has always wanted to go to New York and thinks it would be "a cool experience. I would love to do it."

To make a donation, or if you have some work to be done, contact the girls through their respective art teachers, Carolyn Platt at the middle school, 541-549-2099, or Bethany Gunnarson at the high school, 541-549-4045.