Alumna artwork accepted in ArtPrize on first try

BY SCOTT DECAMP

Whitehall District Schools

In remembering her days at Whitehall Middle School, Lara Hinze described herself as “intensely shy and not outgoing.”

Art has long been an outlet of expression for the 2021 Whitehall High School alumna. With her entry in this year’s ArtPrize, an international art competition and cultural festival held annually in Grand Rapids, her work did the talking.

Expected to graduate from Grand Valley State University this December with an Art Education major, Hinze is hoping to impact and inspire others through art. The 22-year-old daughter of Paul and Lisa Hinze is currently doing a teacher internship in a high school art classroom and plans to get a job as an art teacher at a public high school.

“I would say that my grandmother and my parents are my biggest influences in my love of art,” Hinze said. “My grandmother is a fantastic oil painter and had portraits of animals scattered all around her house and I always loved her realistic painting style. She also gave me ‘art lessons’ as I was growing up to help me develop my drawing skills because she saw I was interested in learning. 

“In my own home, my parents are also great artists and we did many art nights where the whole family would sit down and create art and listen to music together. These are some of my fondest memories.”

Along the way, Whitehall Middle School art teacher Amy Spicer and her classroom became another inspiration for Hinze.

Hinze said that art class was her absolute favorite part of middle school.

“Ms. Spicer was absolutely an influence that I have cited as being the type of teacher I want to model my future classroom after. She created such a welcoming atmosphere …,” Hinze said. “I never felt singled out and even my classmates in the classroom were conscious of keeping a welcoming environment for everyone. This is all attributed to Ms. Spicer’s careful creation of her classroom culture and uplifting attitude to everyone in the class.”

In turn, Spicer has very fond memories of having Hinze in her classroom. Spicer could see the kindness, passion, and talent within Hinze, even at that young age.

“Lara was always a very kind student and dedicated a lot of time and effort to her projects. She really challenged herself as an artist in the art classroom,” Spicer recalled. “I also remember thinking, ‘Wow! I was never that skillful as a middle school student. She is going to soar!’”

In Hinze’s ongoing teacher internship, she has control of the classroom in partnership with her mentor teacher. She does not have a minor, but in Art Education, she had to select an emphasis area and hers was oil painting. Down the road, she intends on getting her Masters of Fine Arts and becoming an art professor at the collegiate level.

Hinze created her ArtPrize piece as her final exam/project for her final painting class of her college career. Her ArtPrize entry was called “Self Reflection.”

“I have always been immensely interested in realistic artwork because I have felt that it takes a high amount of technical skill to do the realism style well and I have always been proud of my ability to do this,” Hinze said. “That being said, my other favorite style of artwork is impressionism (think Claude Monet’s ‘Waterlilies’ and Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’). This is a style that still has a focus on reality, but it uses a lot more fluid brush strokes and creates a more whimsical atmosphere, which I adore. 

“This ArtPrize painting was my way of attempting to combine those two styles in one massive undertaking while also conveying a strong message.”

Hinze said that one submits artwork to ArtPrize online and there is a connection process where the artist must reach out to a venue. The venue has the opportunity to review the artwork, then accept it or not.

In her case, Gerald R. Ford Museum was the only venue she contacted because she knew it was one of the venues where everyone who attends ArtPrize is sure to visit. Since the museum is a large venue that holds around 50 pieces of art during ArtPrize, it has a committee that goes through all of the submissions and carefully selects the pieces that will best fit.

In her first time entering ArtPrize, she was accepted into the venue she wanted most.

“There are hundreds of venues throughout the city, but only a few big venues that have the most ArtPrize foot traffic,” Hinze said. “I knew that the size and ambiance of my painting would fit best in the museum atmosphere. If I was going to try to get my artwork into ArtPrize for the first time, I wanted to aim as high as I could.”

“Self Reflection” is a 5-by-6-foot painting, which is 100 percent handmade. Hinze created the wood foundation for the painting, hand-stretched the canvas, and built the frame for the gallery with help from family. The artwork showcases Hinze looking in a mirror in a somber mood. The piece is an embodiment of her struggles with anxiety throughout her life.

Hinze said she went into the painting process with two goals: To tell a story about something she’s struggled with, and to tell that story by combining her two favorite styles of painting.

In using “impressionist, messy brushstrokes” while painting herself in the mirror, Hinze said she was able to showcase racing emotions and chaotic energy associated with feeling anxious. She said she paired those messy brushstrokes with a realistic-style break in the mirror where the viewer can feel the eye contact she makes with her reflection.

Hinze added that the scale of the painting was a very intentional decision. She said she’s always struggled with feeling like everyone was always judging and staring, so she figured the best way to showcase that in her artwork would be to physically make it very large so that the viewer had no choice but to look at her artwork. That parallels the idea of feeling those eyes on her since it’s a self-portrait.

ArtPrize is not only a way for the community to view one’s artwork, but it also allows other, more influential people to view it, too, Hinze said. Because her email address is attached to my ArtPrize account, it was easy for ArtPrize viewers to be able to reach out. She received an invitation, along with several other artists, to bring their ArtPrize artwork to a gallery in Ludington this winter as an “ArtPrize comes to Ludington” art show. 

“I am amazed at how one opportunity to put my artwork in ArtPrize has led to other opportunities for me,” Hinze said.

Hinze’s artwork did not win any awards at ArtPrize, whose facilitators do not allow artists to see how many votes they received. She said she’ll always be stuck wondering how many people voted for her artwork. 

However, the piece that won was from an artist whose work was showcased on the other side of the room from Hinze’s at the Ford Museum, affirming with Hinze that the venue was the best place for her artwork to be.

“It definitely felt a little like imposter syndrome at first since I am still in college and most of the other artists in my venue had been professional artists for many years,” Hinze said. 

“Once ArtPrize started and I was able to walk around the venue and watch the flow of foot traffic, I was surprised to see that a majority of people took their time looking at my painting and reading my artist statement, so it meant a lot to me to see ArtPrize viewers engaging with my artwork on the same level as the other artworks which affirmed to me that my artwork did deserve to be there regardless of my age.”

Hinze said attending ArtPrize has been a tradition that she and her family have been doing on and off throughout her childhood. As a family of artists, they always appreciated walking around the city and seeing how it transformed with the addition of people milling around and all of the beautiful artwork.

“I always felt like ArtPrize was some unattainable thing that I could never be a participant in, but as the years went on, my family would always say, ‘You could totally put your art in ArtPrize one day,’” Hinze said. “I never expected that I would have my art in one of the most prestigious venues, and on my first try no less. I am proud of my achievement and am already planning on what I could create for next year.”

Spicer was very excited to see that Hinze submitted her entry in ArtPrize. Spicer was unable to see the artwork in person, but Hinze shared photos of her painting with her.

“Lara is such an outstanding artist, and I am so proud of her. Her self-portrait really showcases her skill level and her voice as an artist,” Spicer said.

“I am thrilled that Lara is pursuing art education. Her students will be so lucky to have her as their teacher. I remember mentioning to her as a middle school student that she would make a great art teacher someday, and here she is following her dreams. I am so lucky to have been a part of her journey, and I wish her all the best.”

Hinze attended Whitehall District Schools the whole way, from kindergarten through high school.

All-in-all, she feels as though her experience with Whitehall District Schools prepared her well for chasing the dreams she’s pursuing now.

“Along the way, I had welcoming teachers and overall great experiences. In high school, even with the pandemic which struck my junior year, I was able to get a high level of education and get a head start on college credits by taking several AP classes. My only critique is that I wish AP Art was offered. My schedule only allowed for one art class in my entire high school career, so although I knew art was my passion, I did not have the academic freedom to explore it fully until college,” Hinze said.

“Whitehall did a great job making sure their students had adequate help applying to college and preparing for the SAT and for that I am grateful. I definitely feel like my teachers held us to a high standard of achievement and that pushed me to be as high achieving as I could and take that momentum into college with me.”