IHS Junior Wins International Art Competition

Published April 13, 2017

An Independence High School student’s art project is earning high praise.

During a school assembly April 13, representatives for the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) surprised IHS junior Molly Cahill with the news she had won the grand prize for the ArtEffect Project, an international competition for students in grades 6-12.

This year’s contest drew 430 student entries from across the U.S. and abroad. Cahill’s project titled Hope for the Verdict depicts Mitsuye Endo, a woman who challenged Japanese-American internment all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court and won in 1944.

“After doing this project my whole perspective of art making has changed,” said Cahill. “I feel now that I want to have emotional ties to my pieces and be able to tell a story or present a feeling without having to explain it with words.”

Cahill’s artwork is a 26 x 21 portraiture using graphite, charcoal and decoupage of newspaper clippings and white tissue. As part of her prize, Cahill received a check for $7,500 and her artwork will be displayed in LMC’s Hall of Unsung Heroes in Fort Scott, Kansas. Her teacher, Andrea Howard, says she is well deserving of the honor.

“Molly is an incredible and gracious person, who also happens to be an amazing artist,” said Howard. “I am so proud to see her recognized for her hard work and dedication to creating art and telling visual stories.”

In addition to Cahill, Independence High students Zoe Fitzhugh, Madison Ceccarelli and Eva Csaki were named finalists in the competition.