Two DGS Art Students Receive National Awards for Photo, Ceramic Piece

Samantha Eubanks and Hayley Gomoll have a few things in common.

They’re both Downers Grove South art students: Eubanks is a senior and Gomoll is a junior.

They both started taking an art class during the second semester of their freshman year: Eubanks took Ceramics I, Gomoll took Photo I. They’ve continued to take those art classes every semester since.

They also both won national awards last month from the 2011 National Scholastics Art and Writing Awards.

Gomoll won a national Gold Medal for her photograph, Reflect, and Eubanks received a National American Vision Award and a Silver Medal for her ceramics piece, Mystic.

The pair will travel to New York in late May to attend an awards ceremony and to see their work on display in an art exhibit.

Eubanks said when she’s not working with ceramics, she’s thinking about new ideas.

 “The first thing when I wake up is I think of new ideas for a project and new designs,” she said.

“When you do something and have a passion for it, you instantly know it. You sit down and start doing it and forget everything else that’s bothering you. Anything you’re stressing out about just leaves, and it’s just like there’s nothing wrong when you’re doing it.”

Gomoll said she loves seeing the world through the lens of her Nikon D3000 because it’s fun and something she can do whenever she wants.

“I just like having a camera and taking pictures,” Gomoll said. “It’s fast and easy, as opposed to drawing, where you sit and draw one thing for an hour. With digital, you can see it right after you take it.”

Gomoll wants to be a professional photographer. Eubanks said she definitely wants to continue with ceramics, but she doesn't know what she wants to do professionally, yet.

Mystic

The inspiration for Mystic was Russian nesting dolls.

"My original plan was to make those Russian little woman that go inside of each other," she said. "I threw the top piece on the wheel, threw the second piece and hand made the bottom ones."

But that idea quickly changed.

“When you make something, you have an initial idea in your head, and the more you work on it, the more the idea changes,” she said.

The painted background on Mystic was the hardest part. “That killed me,” Eubanks said.

The ceramic took Eubanks two to three months to complete. She said she usually works on projects in class, as well as during her lunch period. To finish the piece for a school art show, she stayed in the ceramics room all night.

When she got home, she put it in her oven at 450 degrees for eight hours to dry it out before she could put it in the kiln. A ceramics piece must be completely dry before it goes into the kiln.

“If there’s any moisture left, it will crack,” she said.

Eubanks found out her piece had won a Scholastics national award when she was home sick.

“(My teacher) took my best friend’s phone and had the entire class around it and told me,” she said. “Whenever I think about getting the award or the fact that it really did happen, I don’t know what to say. My hands start shaking. It’s unbelievable. It’s a great feeling.”

In a district release, Eubanks’ ceramics teacher Kathy Myles said she was proud of her student’s dedication.

“I’m so proud of Samantha and her dedication to creating ceramic works of art,” Myles said. “It’s fortunate for our students that our community values and supports our fine arts programs.

Eubanks said working with ceramics has taught her patience and concentration, and also how to pay attention to the details in everyday life.

“It helps me look into things as opposed to just looking at them,” Eubanks said. “I’ll go outside and notice little details that you would normally miss in everyday life.”

Reflect

The inspiration for Reflect began at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. Gomoll shot photos of high heels for a photography class project on shoes.

“My photography teacher really liked how I took of lot of pictures of high heels,” Gomoll said. “I took a lot of leg pictures. She told me to keep taking pictures like that.”

Gomoll was hanging out in her friend’s backyard when she decided to shoot some photos featuring a green chair.

“I love (those chairs), so I told (my friend) to go sit on the green chair,” Gomoll said. “I was looking for things to take pictures with. She had this huge mirror. I thought I could use it to reflect something in it.”

Once she had the shot, she played with its saturation to bring out the colors and made a couple of other edits.

“I just edit out little flaws, like people's little flaws or if there’s something that shouldn’t be in the picture.,” she said. “ In the picture I edited out part of the garage. There was a big yellow raft that was showing.”

Gomoll won a gold key in the Scholastics awards last year and hoped one of her pieces would someday make its way to New York.

“I was in math class when my (photography) teacher was standing outside my door,” Gomoll said. “She pulled me out of class and said, ‘Congratulations, you won a National Scholastics award.’ I asked, ‘Is that the New York one?’

“We were just screaming in the hallway. I was so excited, I couldn’t even believe it.”

In a district release, Gomoll’s photography teacher Michelle Lynn said the award confirmed her talent.

“Hayley is a talented artist, and this national award confirms that talent,” Lynn said. “These awards truly represent the highest in achievement and recognition for a high school student artist.”

Gomoll said she can’t wait to go to New York for the first time and see the other works of art that will be on display. She said photography has helped her really see the beauty in things.

“No matter where I am, I’ll see something, and think, ‘That’s really cool. I’ll wish I had my camera’,” Gomoll said. “I see more details in stuff that would be a really good picture.”