INPERSON
All About Art
Shaler’ s Kelly Cross wins a National Medal in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. By Nicole Tafe
Shaler’ s Kelly Cross was born to be an artist. Creating works of art in all mediums for the past several years, she is now being honored for her artistic talent at the national level.
Cross, 18, is the daughter or Karen and William Cross. She has four sisters— Jennifer, Lauren, Maria and Katie. She just finished her senior year at Shaler Area High School, graduating with the class of 2018.
While at Shaler Area, Cross was a part of the National Art Honor Society and attended A. W. Beattie Career Center as part of the Pastry Arts Program. There she was president of Family Career and Community Leaders of American( FCCLA).
“ My favorite part of the day at A. W. Beattie Career Center is art class because I have the freedom to express myself, and the room is my safe haven,” she says.“ Mr. Boyles, my art teacher, is definitely my favorite high school teacher and I have really enjoyed his classes.”
Cross’ favorite medium to work in is gouache— a mixture between watercolor and acrylic.“ I like it because it’ s good to use to add layers to your piece and a little bit goes a long way,” she says.
Cross won a National Medal in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and was awarded a Silver Key for her artwork depicting a peacock.
Her artwork is an etching.“ First I took a picture and a piece of plexiglass and I scratched the picture into the glass, taking me a while because I had to put in every detail,” she explains.“ Then I took in and smeared it in the glass, taking Qtips to put in all the highlights and lowlights into the ink. I then took a piece of wet paper and carefully placed it on this the glass, rolling it through a press where it reverse printed the picture on the paper.”
Her work was selected by creative professionals as the most accomplished in the nation. This year, nearly 350,000 works of art and writing were submitted. Less than onepercent were recognized at the national level.
As one of the students receiving a top award, Cross was invited to attend a ceremony at the world-famous Carnegie Hall on June 7 to participate in showcase events at Parsons School for Design at The New School and Pratt Institute’ s Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York City.
Cross’ artwork advanced for adjudication at the national level after receiving the Gold Key in the competition’ s Northeast Regionals. Close to 19,600 works earned regional Gold Keys and advanced to national adjudication in New York City.
Cross is unsure as to where her future will take her.“ I hope to get a job in the pastry field, or a job at the Pittsburgh Zoo working with animals,” she says.“ Regardless of where life takes me, I’ ll always keep making art.” n
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