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Winners announced in annual Holocaust memorial art contest

First Place: Carrigan Nguyen, ninth grade, Ridgeline High School Title: Grasp for Rebirth Statement: For my art project, I used mixed media, watercolors, pen, and colored pencils. My art represents the fight for freedom and rebirth through the struggles of the Holocaust, wrapped around the story of Thomas Blatt. I selected Thomas Blatt as my inspiration for not only his story, but also because of how he continued to speak out against the tragedies of the Sobibor death camp even after the war. The image I chose represents him reaching out to freedom and a rebirth of our world, one to come after the war ends. But the walls and towers show he was trapped in the reality of war. And yet he kept going, kept surviving. That is what inspires me most, his perseverance and bravery to keep standing and fighting for history to be known. And I’ll follow in that example to speak out, to be heard, and to resist against oppression.
First Place: Carrigan Nguyen, ninth grade, Ridgeline High School Title: Grasp for Rebirth Statement: For my art project, I used mixed media, watercolors, pen, and colored pencils. My art represents the fight for freedom and rebirth through the struggles of the Holocaust, wrapped around the story of Thomas Blatt. I selected Thomas Blatt as my inspiration for not only his story, but also because of how he continued to speak out against the tragedies of the Sobibor death camp even after the war. The image I chose represents him reaching out to freedom and a rebirth of our world, one to come after the war ends. But the walls and towers show he was trapped in the reality of war. And yet he kept going, kept surviving. That is what inspires me most, his perseverance and bravery to keep standing and fighting for history to be known. And I’ll follow in that example to speak out, to be heard, and to resist against oppression.
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From staff reports

An image of a holocaust survivor reaching out for freedom and a fused glass sculpture of the Anne Frank tree won first place in the high school and middle school divisions of the Jessica Stein Memorial Art Contest this year.

The theme for the 11th annual contest was “The Art of Courage and Resistance.” The contest is part of the Spokane Community Observance of the Holocaust, which is organized by Temple Beth Shalom.

In an artist statement, high school winner Carrigan Nguyen said “Grasp for Rebirth” represents “the fight for freedom and rebirth through the struggles of the Holocaust, wrapped around the story of Thomas Blatt. … The image I chose represents him reaching out to freedom and a rebirth of our world, one to come after the war ends. But the walls and towers show he was trapped in the reality of war. And yet he kept going, kept surviving.”

Carrigan is a ninth-grader at Ridgeline High School.

Camryn Petersen won second place and Bianca Landa took third in the high school division. They are both a 12th-graders at East Valley High School.

For her piece, “Branches of Resistance,” middle -school winner Edie Bangle took inspiration from Carla Peperzak and the tree planted in Anne Frank’s honor at the middle school bearing Peperzak’s name. Edie is an eighth-grader at Salk Middle School.

“Carla’s story inspired me because she is a local hero,” Edie wrote in her artist statement. “… My piece represents Carla’s German nurse disguise and the 40 people she saved from concentration camps during her time in the Dutch Resistance. The 40 red tulips (the national flower of Carla’s birthplace, the Netherlands) surrounds the tree and her nurse cap disguise. The yellow tulip represents her keeping herself alive through it all. Carla inspires me to ask myself, could I be this brave today?”

Second place in the middle -school division went to Madeline Schlettert, and third place to Claire O’Halloran. Both are eighth-graders at Salk Middle School.

The artwork will be on display at the observance at 7 p.m. April 14 at Temple Beth Shalom, 1322 E. 30th Ave. The event will also feature reflections from Peperzak, a candle lighting ceremony and music from the Ferris High School and Peperzak Middle School orchestras and Spokane Jewish Community Choir.