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The mission of the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA) Visual Arts Scholastic Event is to recognize exemplary student achievement in the Visual Arts by providing art students and programs a standard of excellence in which to achieve.

2015 VASE Results

The Visual Arts Scholastic Event starts at the regional level. These local competitions are based on the 20+ TEA/ESC regions. More than 28,000 students participate at the regional level throughout the state. Out of that group, 1785 students qualified for the State show which was held in Dallas, TX.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the following State VASE qualifiers from Martin, Bowie, and Lamar High School.

  • Martin High School
    • Jaemin C.
    • Sommer E.
  • Lamar High School
    • Jourdain B.
    • Alora C.
    • Kelsi J.
    • Skye K.
    • Frida R.
    • Natalie T.
    • Maria T.
  • Bowie High School
    • Helle L.
  • Honorable Mentions
    • Jaemin C.
    • Natalie T.
    • Skye K.
    • Kelsi J.
    • Jourdain B.

Each of these students received a State Medal for scoring a 4 which is classified as "Superior". Jourdain and Jaemin each also received the Gold Seal which is the highest award given in this competition. Only 177 out of the 1785 state entries were selected for this honor.

Gold Seal Winners

Art work of Gold Seal Winners will travel and be displayed in various museums, galleries, and university across the State of Texas!

Criteria

Jurors will look for originality of concept, technical expertise, understanding of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for visual art, and the interpretation of the student's stated intent. Jurors at the regional level will evaluate student artwork using the following standard:

  • Rating 4Superior
  • Rating 3Excellent
  • Rating 2Average
  • Rating 1Below Average
  • At the state level the following rating system is used:
  • Rating 5Distinguished (given only to Gold Seal artwork)
  • Rating 4Exemplary (in meeting the criteria)
  • Rating 3Superior (in meeting the criteria)
  • Rating 2Excellent (in meeting the criteria)
  • Rating 1Accomplished (in meeting the criteria)

Students compete on four different experience levels depending on the credits in art that the student has received at the time of the regional event:

  • 0 to 1 credit in art are juried on the Division I level
  • 5 to 2 credits in art are juried on the Division II level
  • 5 to 3 credits in art are juried on the Division III level
  • 5+ credits in art and/or AP are juried on the Division IV level

Medals are awarded to those students receiving a Superior (Rating 4) rating in each division at the regional event and medallions are awarded to those students receiving an Exemplary (Rating 4) rating at the state event. The "Gold Seal" medallion is the top state award presented to Distinguished works of art chosen by the state jury panel.

History of Vase

In 1980, Texas Art Education Association members began to investigate the value of University Interscholastic League (UIL) participation for the visual arts. Since UIL was so prevalent in other academic areas such as drama, debate, band, orchestra, and sports, it was felt that perhaps visual arts could also benefit.

A committee was formed and Jim Henderson was appointed as chairman. For a number of years, the merits of such a program were discussed and debated. It was decided that to really have a true picture of how such a program would work in art, a pilot would have to be conducted. Houston area art supervisors were asked to conduct this pilot.

In the fall of 1990, with input from art educators across the state, music directors who had conducted UIL events, and UIL representatives, polices and procedures were developed. The criterion in this pilot was that it would be good for students, teachers, and art programs in Texas. These objectives were of primary importance and greatly influenced how the UIL pilot was developed for art.Judges were critical to the success of this program. They were selected for their expertise in one of the ten entry categories as well as their sensitivity to students. They went to a training program with emphasis on making students feel good about themselves and their art while helping them grow and expand their skills. This took place several weeks prior to the district event.

On the day of the event each school was assigned a time and each student assigned eight minutes with a judge. The interview was private with the exception of ESL students who were allowed to bring an interpreter. The judge completed a Juror's Rating Form on each student that was one-third weighted on the student's interview and two-thirds weighted on the work of art. The components on the form were based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) in art for Texas.

After the interview the student rejoined his classmates until all interviews for their school were completed. Students were not competing against each other at this level -- as many rating of I (one) were given as were earned. Every student receiving a I (one) received a medal. All students were given copies of their Juror's Rating Form with suggestions and positive feedback included. All artwork remained at the meet site after students and teachers left, along with evaluation sheets and medals. All student pieces that received a I Rating were placed in the correct class, and the top 50 in each class were selected to go to the State VASE Event.

The state event included a week long exhibit at the University of St. Thomas, an awards night with students, parents, and teachers invited, and medals and ribbons for all participants as well as plaques for top state winners. All teachers who participated in the event were asked to complete a survey. This information helped to modify and adjust the second year pilot that was held in February of 1992.

After the second year pilot was successfully completed, the survey results and comments showed a strong desire on the part of the teachers to see this become an official UIL event. The results of these pilots were presented to the Council at Large on Thursday, November 8, 1992, and it was decided to have UIL include visual arts. This would be a three-year pilot under UIL, with TAEA receiving the results at the end of that time.

Unfortunately for TAEA, the timing couldn't have been worse for the UIL State Board, as many new events added to the UIL official docket would not only have to be approved by the UIL board, but also by the State Board of Education. With state funding for schools being in such an ambiguous state, it was felt by those officials that the Visual Arts would have a better chance of being approved, if it waited until the state financial issues with school funding were resolved. The UIL and TAEA had several points in which agreement could not be made. And therefore the VASE event is under the sole direction of TAEA.

  1. The UIL separates "competition" for high schools according to the size of the school. In example: 2A schools would only enter VASE with 2A schools, 5A with 5A, etc. TAEA believes the art department of all schools can be equally as strong with no regard to size.
  2. UIL would require Art I Beginning students to enter the event with AP or Advanced students with no regard to ability, level in art, or training. TAEA believes that beginning, middle, and advanced level students should enter the event with students of like art maturation and skills.

The UIL Visual Arts committee then decided on behalf of TAEA that it would establish its own Visual Arts Event for students in the state of Texas. This event would be the outgrowth of the successful pilot that was conducted for two years in the Houston area. So, the name TAEA Visual Arts Scholastic Event was chosen to replace the UIL Pilot title, but the basic structure of the competition has remained the same.

In 1994 the Juror's Rating Form was altered to represent a truer authentic assessment rubric and to align with the AP Art rubric. A new rating scale was created and established a IV Rating as being Superior. The State VASE Event was moved to the University of Texas at Arlington.

The 1996 State Event saw the edition of cash scholarships awarded to students. $2000 in scholarships was awarded to art students in each division at the state event.

The VASE Needs A Face campaign was established in 1998 encouraging student artists to submit logo designs that would be used to select a logo to represent the VASE program.

As the High School VASE program continued to grow, there was increasing interest in establishing a VASE program for Junior High and Middle School art students. The first successful VASE Middle School pilot was held on April 24, 1999. The pilot was designed to determine if a VASE program would benefit the students in middle school art. The event was a tremendous success with 6 districts, 9 schools, and 10 teachers represented. 57 Middle School art students submitted their works of art for the interview process. Junior VASE became an official program for intermediate and middle schools in Texas in 2001. Middle School regional events will now be called Junior VASE and will encompass grades 6 through 8. The regional event is the culminating event for Junior VASE, there is no state event at this level.

In the spring of 2000, the State VASE Event was moved to the University of Houston - Clear Lake. VASE added a website in 2000. The website provided a virtual tour of the State Results, The Gold Seal Exhibition, and many other details of the VASE program. The website also enabled VASE participating teachers to register online.

The 2002 state event included 945 students and was moved to a two-day event, April 12-13 at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. The State Jury process was held on Friday and the exhibition, awards, and workshops were held on Saturday. Workshops, art supplies for workshops, and technical support for the state event were made possible through a $6,092 grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, and a donation of $5,000.00 from Rohm and Haas of Houston. The State Workshops Chair, Cheryl Evans contacted Rohm and Haas to help fund the state workshops and they were happy to help out. A special Power Point Slide show of the artworks being recognized was added to this year's award ceremony

Texas Art Education Association Logo

The VASE logo ("The Face of VASE") was created by Clear Brook High School student Amanda Candler, Friendswood Texas, in a statewide VASE logo contest. VASE selected Amanda's design over the designs of 200 other contestants.

In her letter of intent, she writes:

Explanation of VASE Design - "The concept for this piece was to make a visual representation of what art is. Art is not made to remain in the mind, but to use your hands and share it with the world. The hand is the ultimate tool. The three other tools represent the three steps of creating a piece of art; imagining, creating, and sharing. The light blue illuminating the student's hand is the inspiration that can come from art and the power of enlightening others around us of what they can achieve." - Amanda Candler