Licking Heights student Palmer Steel is crafting her future.
This summer, the young artist had two different pieces featured in the juried 2024 Ohio State Fair Youth Arts Exhibition, titled “Fashionista” and “Opposites Attract.” Steel also received an award for each piece: the Third Place Blick Art Materials Award for “Fashionista” and the prestigious Middle School People's Choice Award for “Opposites Attract.”
“When I found out I had won two awards, I was out of town visiting family,” Steel laughs. “I called my mom to tell her I won, and she was so excited.”
Both works showcased Steel’s varied artistic talents. “Fashionista” is a skirt created from hundreds of origami paper cranes, displayed on a mannequin. Steel says the piece was inspired by an origami lesson in fifth grade art with teacher Rachel Fout, based on the story “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.” Her friends also encouraged her to make the skirt, even though Steel admits it was quite time consuming–but still fun.
“Opposites Attract” is a diptych colored pencil portrait that Steel drew outside of class, representing a person’s ability to feel both joy and sadness. When she showed the piece to Fout, her teacher knew it was something special.
“‘Opposites Attract’ stood out because it’s about that pull between two feelings,” Fout says. “It shows a drawing of a girl split into two and demonstrates that one person can have a lot of different emotions.”
Steel is currently a sixth grade student at Summit Station Intermediate, where she hones her creative talents with art teachers Fout and Kathleen Quigley. During the 2023-24 school year, “Fashionista” was displayed in the school’s front entrance and won a Judge’s Choice award at the District Art Show.
Steel says her art classes and teachers have helped her discover her creative talents and how much she enjoys making art. Her family also encourages her, with her mother creating a mini art gallery in their house showcasing all of her artwork from kindergarten to now.
“Ms. Rubino at Broad Peak Elementary helped me get into art, but fifth grade classes with Ms. Fout helped me see I can do whatever I want in art,” she says. “In kindergarten through fourth grade, I had to do assigned projects and I still got to be creative, but now I have more freedom to create what I want.”
The Youth Arts Exhibition is an annual show open to all Ohio students grades 1-12. Art forms include photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, and mixed media. Students must submit art for acceptance, and the exhibition is judged by Ohio artists and educators.
Ever the creator, Steel is already working on her entry for next year, which will likely be a pencil sketch showcasing her talents in value shading.