Experimenting with new materials takes courage because there is no guarantee everything will work out. But it’s often a risk artists are willing to take.  

When Faina Maredia was accepted into the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) in Houston Independent School District as a freshman, she focused on painting and other two-dimensional media. Her instructors, however, quickly encouraged her to branch out. That small push recently paid off, and the reward was twofold for the senior.  

“I opened my laptop just after I got home from an amazing day of showing all my artwork in my senior showcase, and it was right there, ‘You’re a Scholastic American Visions nominee,’” Maredia recalled with enthusiasm. “It was really the cherry on top of one of the best days. I was super excited and motivated to continue creating.”  

Maredia, a first-time Scholastic Art & Writing Awards submitter, received six Gold Keys, one Silver Key, one Honorable Mention and more significantly, was named an American Visions nominee for two pieces – “Dream Body” and “I Fear to Be Anything Less Than Perfect.” The distinction marks the first time in regional history that a student has been nominated for two top-level awards in the national competition within the same year.  

Presented by the nonprofit organization The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program has fostered creativity and talent within millions of students in grades 7-12 for more than 100 years. Serving as the second-largest regional affiliate of the program, Harris County Department of Education received nearly 14,000 submissions from students in Harris, Galveston and Fort Bend counties this year. The number is almost 2,000 more than last year.  

“Scholastic Awards is creating a whole space for young artists to get together in person and evaluate each other’s work, talk about ideas and show them what it means to be recognized on a regional, state and sometimes a national level,” said David Waddell, the director of the visual art department at HSPVA.  

Like many creatives, Maredia’s artistic journey began as a young child doodling on notebooks. Peers noticed her talents and commissioned her interpretations of their favorite animals, characters or landscapes. Her mother then introduced her to the renowned artwork at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and that’s when Maredia’s inspiration for art really took shape. 

“I had an interest in all the figurative art, so everything that had a body in it or represented someone,” she described. “When I was younger, I felt I understood the artwork on a personal level, but when I got older and could read the context tags, that formed another meaning. I started to see the artist’s own interpretation of their creation, and now I strive to create a personal interpretation for my viewers as well.”  

The Visual Arts curriculum at HSPVA parallels the challenges of a college-level Fine Arts program and is designed to provide students with a foundation to build on and a dynamic range of experiences. Students can experiment with textiles, digital media, welding, photography, woodworking and more.  

Maredia tried them all.    

“She’s showing so much evolution, artistic and even personal growth,” Waddell said, beaming with pride as he recalled watching Maredia’s journey throughout her four years at HSPVA. “She’s worked with all the mediums, experimented, taken risks and pushed her creations to the limit. I think all her work is just stunning and so different.” 

Added Maredia: “I really love to incorporate any sort of medium that kind of contradicts each other, and it’s interesting to work with. The exploration pushed me to create more work, and the more I created, the more I fell in love with mixed media artwork.” 

“Dream Body,” one of her American Vision award winners, is just one byproduct of that exploration. For the project, Maredia created a dress, inspired by a recent shopping trip with her mom and friends. She noted that while searching for clothes, she realized her friends’ harsh comments about how the clothes fit their body types stemmed from societal expectations, not from genuine unhappiness with themselves.  

To combat stigma and express her feelings about the world around her, the Maredia headed to the studio.  

“The bodice is made out of resin and fabric, which lends itself to a certain fragility, but also strength,” she described. “I wanted the bottom to be fluid and flowy to mimic regular clothing that moves with the body. The hanger is connected to a wire I’ve attached that punctures into the breastplate, which symbolizes the body’s connection to clothes and the depth of how far consumption can affect us.” 

Femininity, consumerism and identity are all words the high school senior uses to describe the piece, but resilience can be used to describe her. She spent two months in the studio developing a concept and working with new materials like resin, a moldable substance that cures into a durable, glass-like solid. She was forced to troubleshoot along the way, but says that’s part of the beauty in creating.    

“Every art piece you create can teach you something, and that’s one thing I love about sculpture: it’s so unpredictable,” Maredia said. “With painting or other media of that sort, you can kind of predict the outcome, but with sculpture, you can’t figure out what the piece will look like in the end.”  

“I Fear to Be Anything Less Than Perfect,” the second piece to be named an American Vision award finalist, reflects similar themes. The mixed-media creation can be viewed as a culmination of Maredia’s education at HSPVA, as it is both a callback to her painting roots and uses embroidery thread to cross-stitch the words “I Fear to Be Anything Less Than Perfect” across a woman’s face. She urges viewers to pay attention to the details in the lettering and recognize that the stitching is not perfect, nor are the letters that spell “perfect,” emphasizing that it’s okay to make mistakes throughout life.   

“The amount of emphasis we place on presentation or the way we want to be seen in the world takes so much effort, but there are flaws to everything,” Maredia smiled. “That’s what makes the world and everyone in it so unique. There is beauty in imperfection.”  

The first-time Scholastic winner hopes people draw their own interpretation from each piece.  

“Art can mean so much to people, and I’ve certainly looked at different artworks and found a deeper meaning or interpretation,” she explained. “I’ve seen people really connect with these pieces, especially when they see the titles, because I feel this is a topic that many can relate to.” 

Added Waddell: “Art can be a powerful tool, and I think that’s what is happening with Faina. I’m proud that she’ll have the opportunity to share her work through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, while also being inspired by other people who are also at her level.” 

Maredia will be honored as an American Visions nominee on March 26 at the Wortham Theatre at the Scholastic Art & Writing Exhibit and Celebration, joining more than 2,800 Gold and Silver Key winners who brought a distinct and authentic voice, perspective and technical skill to their work. As her senior year comes to an end and she prepares to enroll in a collegiate Visual Arts program, Maredia has one piece of advice for young creatives.  

“Your experiences are never singular – keep creating, stay motivated and search inside for a deeper understanding of life and look to that when creating your artwork, because that is where people start to relate,” she said. “And always remember that life is unenjoyable without art. Yes, you can keep living without it, but there’s really no point, because art inspires us all, whether we know it or not.”