Two Weiser students show their talent as they earn superior awards in art contest

Two Weiser students, Austyn Perkins and his sister, Alexyz Perkins recently earned superior ratings for their art and poetry at the Idaho State Assemblies of God Fine Arts Festival. Both students were invited to the National Festival Aug. 2-6 in Orlando, Florida based on their superior ratings for their work.
 The annual talent, and fine arts festival honors Christian Youth for sharing their fine art talent and enables students to experience a time of learning through evaluations, workshops, and interaction with other students.
 According to the organization’s website: Beginning in September each year, over 65,000 junior and senior high school students begin preparing their entries for the district and National Fine Arts Festivals. These students are encouraged to develop their gifts to a greater level than the year before. Students may enter as many as 80 plus categories offered in seven main divisions: Art, communication, dance, drama, instrumental, vocal, and writing.
 Each student presentation is judged for emotion and appeal. Those who earn 36 points or more are given a superior rating. Students with the superior rating get selected for an invitation to nationals.
 Austyn and Alexys represented the  Cornerstone Assembly of God here in Weiser. Although the festival has been happening since 2012, the Perkins were the first teens from the congregation to participate.
 Alexyz submitted a painting she created just for the festival and earned the minimum requirement for superior and the national festival. Austyn submitted three of his favorite pieces he had created in the last year in art class at Weiser High School as well as a poem titled “Being A Christian.” Two of the three art submissions as well as his poem earned superior ratings.
 The poem is a testimonial piece that Perkins said just came to his mind strongly one day along with the need to write it down and record the thoughts of what being a Christian means to him.
 The message of the poem struck a chord with not only the judges but with the organizers of the local festival. Perkins had submitted the poem ahead of the festival as it is one of the categories that is judged beforehand. Much to his surprise, the day of the festival, Perkins was asked to read his “superior” piece as a demonstration in front of the entire festival.
 While both Alexyz and Austyn are excited to have been selected to attend the national festival, since Alexyz is in sixth grade and only had one piece earn a superior rating, she is most likely not going to attend the festival. Austyn is a junior and is very much hoping that he can make the arrangements and earn the funds necessary to make the trip.
 In order to be able to attend the conference a few things need to fall into place for Perkins. Along with his father needing to be able to make the arrangements to get the time off of work, the trip will also require some fundraising.
 Perkins hopes to be able to use his artwork and artistic talents to be able to raise money for the trip. Having published two books already, Perkins is considering offering fans the opportunity to support his trip by purchasing a special edition autographed copy of the novels with pictures of the dragon characters from the novels. He is also considering selling or raffling some of his original artwork and taking commision work.  
 Another idea is to create artwork to go with “Being a Christian” so that he can share his work through decorative wall hangings and bookmarks that feature both his original artwork and his award winning poem. Perkins shared that he feels that the poem came to him for a reason, and that was so that it could be shared. This way he would be able to share his words and testimony with more people while still working towards the opportunity to attend the festival.
 As a talented writer and artist, Perkins strives to look for opportunities to improve and the festival offers him not only an opportunity to share his work and be honored for it, but also a chance to get feedback from professionals, educators, and ministers from his church. He is hopeful that he will be able to take full advantage of the opportunity.
 “I want to keep going and growing my talents and this would be a great experience for that,” Perkins said.