At the beginning of April, Concordia’s Art team earned their best finish in school history as TAPPS 6A State Champion at the State Art Competition in Waco! The team had previously finished as State Runner-Up in 2023 with 3rd place team finishes from 2016-2022.
The competition included 20 different categories of visual art, photography, digital art, physical art, multimedia, and art history. Concordia had at least one member of the Art team place in 16 of the 20 different categories. Awards were given for the top 8 placements in each category with 1st place earning 10 points, 2nd place with 8 points, and 3rd through 8th with 6-1 points respectively. (Each school is limited to a maximum of x3 submissions per category for a maximum number of 60 entries per school. In 2024, Concordia had 40 entries in 17 of the 20 categories.)
Concordia was blessed with many talented artists who competed in several different categories. Under the direction of Mrs. Heather Vogel, upper-level art teacher and Art department chair, and Mr. Brian Zimont, Art 1 and Art 2 teacher, the Crusaders wowed the judges with 32 of their 40 entries placing in the top 8, earning valuable points for the team. A selection of these pieces/projects from the State Art team will be on display in the “Inspiring Imagination” art gallery at Concordia for everyone to enjoy!
The Crusaders’ 199 points (41 points higher than their score in 2023) was enough to clinch the school’s first title. Concordia finished 1st in eight categories and 2nd in six categories, tallying 128 total points with those 14 finishes.
Three categories truly showcase artistic talent under a time constraint. While some artists including multimedia submissions work all year long on their pieces, the submissions for On-Site Drawing, Black & White Seek & Sketch, and Color Seek & Sketch all must be completed at the competition in under 2 hours.
- On-Site Drawing features over 100 objects placed in the center of a very large room and students must draw a small handful of those items amongst the chaos.
- In Seek & Sketch, students go outside of the convention center, and find an object or objects to draw in either black and white only or color. Their seeking and sketching is included in the 2 hours.
Concordia placed exceptionally well in these categories with 1st, 4th, and 6th places in On-Site Drawing, 1st Place in Color Seek & Sketch, and 2nd, 3rd, and 6th places in Black & White Seek & Sketch!
Individually, several Crusader had very strong showings earning over 20 points each at the State competition:
- Cara Shirley ‘25 led Concordia by earning 26 individual points with her finishes in 2D Mixed Media (State Champ), Fashion Design (2nd), and Black & White Seek & Sketch (2nd) categories.
- Kaelan McBrayer ’24 earned 24 points with her two individual State Titles in Senior Portfolio and Color Seek & Sketch and then was 5th in Color Drawing.
- Soren Petersen ’24 also earned 24 points with her five submissions in five different categories: Digital Art (State Runner-Up), Senior Portfolio (3rd), Black & White Photography (3rd), Black & White Seek & Sketch (6th), and Color Photography (8th).
- Sierra Muchow ’24 earned 23 points for the team with her three submissions that included her individual State Title in On-Site Drawing (1st), Painting (2nd), and Black & White Drawing (4th). Over the last three years, Muchow has averaged over 20 points each year at the State Competition for the Crusaders!
- Jaden Thibodeau ’24 also earned 23 points for the team with her finishes in four events. She was part of the multimedia team led by Wells Stucker ’25 that were State Champs in Short Film Narrative as well as State Runner-Up in Black & White Photography, 6th place in On-Site Drawing, and 7th place in Color Photography.
For the third year in a row, Concordia took the top spots in the TAPPS Short Film portion of the State Art Competition. The two submissions earned 20 valuable points with two individual State Titles.
Kaedn Rhys Mailand ’24 improved on her State Runner-Up result in 2023 and was honored as the TAPPS State Champion in the Short Film Documentary category for her work, “The Little Mermaid” TAPPS Documentary ‘24, highlighting our Fine Arts Winter Musical, Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”
In the Short Film Narrative category, director and writer, Wells Stucker ’25, repeated as the State Champion with team members Major Meyer ’25, Jaden Thibodeau ’24, Christopher Karim ’25, and Ian Snow ’25 for their film “Unremarkable.”
The multimedia submissions can be viewed here:
- “The Little Mermaid” - https://vimeo.com/933420639
- “Unremarkable” - https://vimeo.com/933420930
A complete list of the Crusaders who earned points toward the State Title team finish at the State Art Competition can be viewed below:
- Ava Lee ’25 – 1st Place (Relief)
- Mailand – 1st Place (Short Film – Documentary)
- McBrayer – 1st Place (Senior Portfolio)
- McBrayer – 1st Place (Color Seek & Sketch)
- Muchow – 1st Place (On-Site Drawing)
- Clara Straub ’27 – 1st Place (Fashion/Textile)
- Stucker/Meyer/Thibodeau/Karim/Snow – 1st Place (Short Film – Narrative)
- Muchow ’24 – 2nd Place (Painting)
- Petersen ’24 – 2nd Place (Digital Art)
- Shirley ’25 – 2nd Place (Black & White Seek & Sketch)
- Shirley ’25 – 2nd Place (2D Mixed Media)
- Olivia Starnes ’24 – 2nd Place (Senior Portfolio)
- Thibodeau ’24 – 2nd Place (Black & White Photography)
- Lee – 3rd Place (Painting)
- Petersen – 3rd Place (Senior Portfolio)
- Petersen – 3rd Place (Black & White Photography)
- Starnes – 3rd Place (Black & White Seek & Sketch)
- Isabella Wolf – 3rd Place (2D Mixed Media)
- Sarah Chang ’25 – 4th Place (On-Site Drawing)
- Hallie Miller ’25 – 4th Place (Color Drawing)
- Muchow ’24 – 4th Place (Black & White Drawing)
- Kaylee Iwama ’25 – 5th Place (Digital Art)
- Faith Keiper ’25 – 5th Place (Painting)
- McBrayer ’25 – 5th Place (Color Drawing)
- Petersen ’24 – 6th Place (Black & White Seek & Sketch)
- Nicole Straub – 6th Place (Color Drawing)
- Thibodeau – 6th Place (On-Site Drawing)
- Thibodeau – 7th Place (Color Photography)
- Chang ’25 – 8th Place (Black & White Drawing)
- Kenzie Kangas ’25 – 8th Place (Sculpture)
- Petersen ’24 – 8th Place (Color Photography)
- Gabi Gonzalez ’25 – Honorable Mention (Sculpture)
Concordia will have a challenging task if they wish to repeat as State Champs in 2025 as they say goodbye to some key contributing seniors to graduation in McBrayer, Muchow, Petersen, Starnes, and Thibodeau who earned over 100 of the teams’ 199 points this year. The top three positions in the Senior Portfolio category were Crusaders and could have been more if we could have had more than x3 submissions!
As always, Art is a subjective competition and the judges will ultimately decide who gets certain places, but we love all of our Crusaders’ art pieces and are very proud of the entire team and program!