Moorhead Public Schools Essay Contest
In March 2014, the Rourke hosted the second grade students from Moorhead Public Schools. We asked the students to write a creative story or essay about their favorite work of art from their visit Museum. Two essays were selected from each class, garnering a certificate of excellence for each of the 32 students.
A distinguished panel of judges then reviewed the winning submissions and selected one as the Best Artistic Essay. The judges felt that the winning essay by Laila Ahmed beautifully expressed the wonder and inspiration that art can evoke. Our congratulations to Laila and to all the participations.
Thanks to our judges: Deb Dawson, artist, filmmaker and philanthropist; Barbara Glasrud, former Concordia art history professor; and Maureen Kelly Jonason, Executive Director of the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County.
Note: We corrected most spelling and punctuation errors to make the essays more accessible for all, but left the grammar alone.
A distinguished panel of judges then reviewed the winning submissions and selected one as the Best Artistic Essay. The judges felt that the winning essay by Laila Ahmed beautifully expressed the wonder and inspiration that art can evoke. Our congratulations to Laila and to all the participations.
Thanks to our judges: Deb Dawson, artist, filmmaker and philanthropist; Barbara Glasrud, former Concordia art history professor; and Maureen Kelly Jonason, Executive Director of the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County.
Note: We corrected most spelling and punctuation errors to make the essays more accessible for all, but left the grammar alone.
First Place Essay by Laila Ahmed
I love the background. It makes me think when I was a baby and my mom and dad took a picture of me. It feels like you’re by the sun and laying back. It feels like I’m swimming at the beach. It makes me think that I’m important so much. And that I belong in the world and it makes me think that I can stand up for my self. It makes me feel the best girl in the world. It feels like forever. I love the bright colors yellow green. I love the sun shining at the water. I like the glimmer, the shine, the sparkle. It feels like I’m in heaven. It makes me feel alive and I can be how I want to be.
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Santi Buisan
Once upon a time there was a duck who lived in a barn. One day the duck saw a man walking by. The duck got really scared because on the man’s jacket said “I love duck hunting.” Then suddenly the man spotted the duck! The duck started running out of the barn. When the duck got out he saw more hunters! So the duck started flying! A man shot his gun and it flew right past the duck. The duck was still flying until he saw a pond with his favorite food. He swooped down to get it. It was almost dark and the hunters were gone so then he went back to the barn. The next day the duck went to the pond. When he was there he saw a little boy throwing crumbs in the water The duck swam towards the crumbs but instead of eating the crumbs he went to the boy for a hug. The boy put gloves on and hugged him and they lived happily ever after. The End.
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La'zyra Imala Chappell
The colors in the fields are so bright and peaceful. What I think this name for this beautiful gorgeous piece of art work should be Bright and Early. And I made a connection to this work of art… When me and my papa went to his farm. We used to milk the cows, see if the chickens laid eggs and the best of all… cleaning the dishes! I used to ride the horses! This wonderful piece of art work brings back a lot of memories when I was little. The bright highlights. It’s just so gorgeous. People come all around to look at such an amazing piece like this picture. Honestly, I think I want to buy it. But I can’t because I don’t have that type of money.
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Joel Allen Egerdahl
I like the background because it lights the picture. I like the sunset. It reminds me when I go to the lake. I like the way the water looks. It looks real. In the picture, all of the stuff looks real. It makes me think of summer because the water looks so warm. I like how they added all of the detail in the picture. I wish that I could be in the water already. The water looks like it is so warm.
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Leif Carlson
Olivia Karau
Dawson Neznik
My favorite piece of art is the boy swimming. It made me think about me swimming on my grandpa’s lake. It reminded me of the horizon line we did in art because the painting has a horizon line too. My favorite part in the painting was all the highlights behind the boy. Last but not least, the clouds look like they are on fire! For those reasons, this art is the best!!
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Charley Norman
Once there was a little wooden bird who lived in a museum. And one day when he woke up he wasn’t in the museum. He was in a tree with more birds but not just any birds, real birds. And now he was one of them. He was a robin. He looked around and said I’m alive. Then one day, an eagle came and swooped him up and took him to his nest and gobbled him up. The end.
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Evan Sailer
I liked the postcard art because it makes me feel interested. And I think it’s awesome because it has lots of light colors. And I also think it is good because it has lots of small details. Postcard mail art is different and fun. I liked all of the art there. I love the Rourke Art Museum and also arts they inspired me. Rourke rocks!
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Tiana Seung
Once there was a boy named Al. He was the tiniest boy on Earth. He went to the Art Museum. He found a vase. Al thought it was a mountain so he climbed it. He got to the top and saw the hole. He thought it was a case so he dove in. He got stuck. Suddenly someone came to the art museum and bought the vase. He got to the person’s house and lived there forever. The end.
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Elin Parr
If I could jump into the picture of the boy swimming, I would see little fish tickling the bottom of his feet. I also see he is having so much fun. His hands are very wrinkly and the sun reflected on his face. He got tanner and tanner by the minute. This picture made me sad because it is so cold here and the boy in the picture is swimming. The artist put a lot of color in his painting. PS. I love the painting.
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Mia Kari Turner
One day, my grandma was shaking me? She said get your clothes on there are fish in our kitchen. I got my clothes on and went downstairs. There were fish getting into our bread so we call my mom at work. When we call her, she was screaming on the ph ph ph beep beep beep beep. My mom said hello is anybody there? The fish ate our phone. How did you do that, I said. So my grandma said let’s get out of here. We ran to my friend’s house. They said what do you want? I said fish are eating our house. My mom pulled in our driveway. She came running over to us and hugged me. They were eating the street. We did not see them. They ate us. I screamed. CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH.
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Ben Voxland
Once upon a time there was a king and he was rich. He had 3,333,333,333 pounds of gold and a giant yellow pot. He stored only one tenth of his gold. The reason why he was so rich was he had a genie and instead of every 3 years he could wish anything, instead he could have 9 wishes every day. And he had thousands and thousands of servants and 20 restaurants in the kingdom. And he has a dungeon but he only throws intruders in there. He also shares 20 pounds of gold to his servants every day. And 50 more servants go in his kingdom every year! And 2 more restaurants every 2 years. He is 201 years old. Eventually he died when he was 1000. Then his son got to be the king.
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Varity Wojciechowski
Once there was a little girl who loved birds. She loved when they flew in the sky. And when they eat. And she watched the birds all the time. She loved the birds so much and the birds loved her too. All the birds love her: loons, ducks, eagles, crows, all different birds too. And sometimes they would fly on her fingers. And that’s how much the birds loved her.
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