NEWS

School art project garners Genoa youth a top ribbon

Vicki Kroll

GENOA – Looking at Amanda Szczecinski’s painting of a tree in the wind, one can almost smell the rain and feel the cool gusts that push the violent weather closer.

The bending branches and brooding sky bring the nervous energy of the storm to life.

For the untitled work, Szczecinski won best of show and first place in the art show at the Ottawa County Fair.

“It was an art project we had done at school. We had to pick an emotion and draw it,” the 14-year-old said. “I was stressing about a big test, so I put anxiety in (the painting) as the emotion, and my teacher got that right away.”

Jessica Cable is the art teacher at Genoa Middle School who gave the assignment and who entered Szczecinski’s painting at the fair in Oak Harbor.

“It has been such a pleasure to have Amanda as my art student for the past few years,” Cable said. “I have really enjoyed watching her develop her talent and skill in drawing and painting. She is a naturally creative young lady and works hard and pushes herself to try new things.

“The gorgeous tree that Amanda painted displays emotion and feeling, just as the assignment required, and then some,” Cable said. “In fact, it received lots of attention from both students and staff while hanging in the halls of our school.”

Szczecinski was quick to credit her teacher: “If Mrs. Cable hadn’t helped me at school during class, or even during the few minutes I could get in at the beginning of the day when asking for pointers — I am so appreciative of her patience with me and all my questions.

“Mrs. Cable doesn’t just teach a subject, she adapts that subject to the student she’s working with. That really helped me excel,” she said. “I never really imagined that I’d be putting stuff in fairs and contests. I like to have fun with it, so I was really excited for art class.”

Her talent surfaced early.

“My parents (Scott and Cindy Szczecinski) said I showed really good attention to detail, like instead of drawing people as stick figures, I would make sure they had hair and five fingers exactly,” Szczecinski said. “And I was always doodling when I was little.”

That urge to constantly draw is still strong.

“My other teachers always got aggravated with my little doodles in the corners of the papers,” she said with a laugh.

Szczecinski said she’s drawn to paintings by Vincent van Gogh.

“ ‘The Starry Night’ is probably one of my favorite paintings,” she said. “I like the texture that he puts into it; it’s very different than most artists. Most artists will take a brush and just start drawing, but he does it in little lines and makes a big picture out of all these tiny increments and it’s really cool.”

Picking up pens, pencils and brushes is therapeutic for Szczecinski.

“It’s really relaxing. It can be relaxing if you make it. It also can be stressful; getting that perfect line or a perfect circle is extremely difficult sometimes. But, in general, it’s very calming,” she said.

“I also like the precision it takes. I want to be surgeon, so it helps me to be steady-wise and get precision, and I know that I’ll need that when I’m older.”

Szczecinski, who also takes karate and is a purple belt, is a freshman this year at Genoa High School.

“I’m quite nervous for high school, but I’m excited about taking art there,” she said.

“I will miss having Amanda at the middle school, but look forward to checking in with her to see what new projects she is producing in high school and beyond,” Cable said.