Art can come in all shapes and sizes. This year, five of LT’s finest art students gained recognition for their artwork in the Illinois High School Art Exhibition on Feb. 26 at the Zhou B. Art Center in Chicago.

“It feels really cool being in the art show,” senior Noah Denten ‘17 said. “I feel really honored and love seeing my work get recognized.”

Denten received a silver award in design at the exhibit. Grace Reilly ‘17 received an honorable mention in drawing, along with Sarah Reardon ‘18, who received an honorable mention in ceramics.

“This was a highly competitive exhibit to have things in and extremely hard to win an award,” art teacher Patrick Page said.

Fellow students Kyle Niego ‘19 and Graham Voetberg ‘17 were featured in the exhibit for photography and sculpture.

“People think that art is something easy; it’s not,” Page said. “This is like a sport commitment that these guys have. Two of our shows were due over break, so kids were coming in 10 hours a day and working at home. Completing their portfolios has been a big journey, an emotional journey for a lot of us.”

Denten has been in many of LT’s art shows, receiving many awards this year.

“I really get inspired by every drawing I do,” Denten said. “Each one gets better, and just makes me want to do more and more. My mom and dad really inspired me along the way as well.”

From this inspiration, Denten started his own shirt company, Illiaty, which he hopes to continue when he goes to college in Georgia, at Savannah College of Art and Design.

“It might be hard because I will be away from all my stuff, but I want to get my name out there when I go away and get recognized for it,” he said. “As time went on people liked seeing my art and always said ‘I always wish I could draw like that’ and that made me really think what I had was special.”

With many artistic seniors leaving this year, Page has some advice for hopeful artists, he said.

“If you’re interested, bring it in,” Page said. “Especially students at South Campus, if you’re good at art, come in. Taking classes and working on your own will help you get better. If you learn to work with feedback, that’s where the raw talent will turn into something more.”

As one of the seniors leaving, Denten has high hopes for LT regarding art.

“I really hope art at LT gets more recognition,” Denten said. “Swimmers won state and got an assembly, but several art students, as well as other senior Grace Reilly, won several medals in state as well as in Nationals, and we haven’t gotten any recognition. I really want art to be looked at a bit better because people look over it, but art is everywhere, and we need more people to know how important it is.”