For as long as she can remember, Insun "Sunny" Kim '18 has been interested in creating artwork.
It wasn't until recently, though, that Sunny realized just how gifted of an artist she was.
At a statewide contest of teenaged artists, Sunny received an unheard of eight awards. She won two Gold Keys, three Silver Keys and three Honorable Mentions at the Boston Globe Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, which were announced Jan. 25.
"Before I got this award, I wasn't proud of my artistic skills," Sunny admitted. "I was worried if art was my way. But after I received these awards, this gives me confidence (that I have artistic talent)."
Sunny had four paintings, three sculptures and an illustration earn awards. Her two Gold Key winners, a sculpture and illustration, will be put on display for a week at Tufts University in March. This will be the first time Sunny will have her work displayed in public outside of WMA.
"I was surprised and happy (to win eight awards)," said Sunny, whose favorite type of art is digital media. "I spent all three months of summer doing artwork. That was part of my portfolio. I feel like I have been rewarded for my hard work."
"Sunny is always thinking outside the box, creating designs that exceed expectations for students of her age," said Ms. Wendy Staples, who has worked closely with Sunny this school year. Sunny serves as editor of the Yearbook, which Ms. Staples runs after school. "She's at a very high level. Her designs, compositions and color schemes are exemplary."
Yirui "Elaine" Dong '18 earned a Silver Key at the Scholastic contest for her sculpture, while five WMA students also won Honorable Mention awards for their artwork: Ruoyi "Sukie" Liu '19 (Architecture & Industrial Design), Zhe "Eva" Wang '19 (Sculpture), Haoran Zhang '19 (Drawing and Illustration) and Yibo "Canna" Zhang '18 (Architecture & Industrial Design).