Re:Imagine24 Overnight Design Competition at the Art Institute of Chicago
Sophie Yufa’s (10) love for art is something that she remembers being with her for her entire life. When asked about art she says, “I feel like I fall in love with it every time I see it, since there’s constantly new things to see and experience by artists around the world.” This year, she not only completes projects on her own, but also took Photo 1 and Drawing & Painting Studio here at VHHS.
Last month, Sophie was accepted into the Re:Imagine24 Overnight Design Competition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Sophie originally found out about this event through her mentor and friend, Allison Molloy, who is actually VHHS’s art teacher. She says, “She [Ms. Molloy] hits me up with a lot of events usually, for which I appreciate because otherwise I probably would never get out of my house.”
This event gave students the opportunity to spend the night at the Art Institute of Chicago, group up with other teens and design mentors, and “Re:Imagine” parts of the museum for a chance to win grand prizes. With 500 applications considered, only 100 Chicagoland teens were accepted to participate in this once in a lifetime competition.The application was open to teens ages 14-19 and was completely free. All Sophie had to do was fill out an online form talking about her personal qualities, why she’d like to participate, and other basic info like her school, teacher, etc. She also submitted a brief PowerPoint Presentation that included various pictures of her artwork.
Accepted students were then grouped up and given one of the following categories: Fashion Design, Interior/Architectural Design, Industrial Design/Designed Objects, Illustration/Graphic Design, Digital Design, or Interpretation. Sophie was placed into the category of Graphic Design and got grouped with three people: Avi, Rachel, and Leo, whom she still keeps in touch with today. She says one of the best parts about this event was getting to meet such amazing people like them.
On Saturday, March 7 through Sunday, March 8, 2015, the Art Institute of Chicago Teen Council hosted the accepted students to participate in the 24 hour competition. Sophie worked closely with a mentor and teammates and spent time brainstorming, prototyping, and building projects that wildly re-imagined conventional aspects of the museum. Some things redesigned by students were security officers’ uniforms, gallery benches, and posters and logos promoting museum events.
Sophie says, “[Re:Imagine24] one of the most incredible experiences of my life, albeit very very very exhausting. The people who hosted the event were super nice and helpful. They provided meals and tons of snacks throughout the day and night, including ‘infinite caffeine’”. Once Sophie was given a group, their mentor, and assignment, they got to work.
Over the course of 24 hours, the participants not only had access to plenty of food, but had the opportunity to use laptops and other materials needed to brainstorm and design anything they could dream up. At times they would walk around the museum with supervisors and brainstormed with little sketch pads, and other times they did yoga. But mostly, Sophie’s group worked on “creating a demographic appeal towards teens so that they’d be more interested in the Art Institute’s youth program. We were required to create a poster, buttons, stickers, handouts, and a logo.”
After a long night of brainstorming, planning, and creating, projects were put on display by 10:00 AM on Sunday to be judged. Teachers and families were invited to a reception, and prizes were awarded for first place projects in each category.
Although Sophie’s groups’ project didn’t win, she said it was pretty cool. She spoke proudly of their work explaining, “Our color scheme consisted of greens, purples, pinks, and black. The event that we were promoting was the “Teen Night Lounge”, which is a real thing that’s happening June 19th at the Art Institute from 6pm-10pm. I designed the poster and helped with the logo, while Leo made fantastic sticker designs and Rachel and Avi made really cool button designs. We all contributed equally to the project.”
According to the Chicago Art Institute Website, “Re:Imagine24 was a huge success!” You can check out all 24 hours of excitement by searching the hashtag #reimagine24 on Instagram and by exploring some photos on the Art Institute Teens Facebook page. Teen Night and Re:Imagine was planned and hosted by the Art Institute Teen Council, a group of 15 ambitious and awesome Chicagoland youth whose mission is to engage more teens in the museum.
In addition to this event, Sophie is proud of a a few pieces she’s made this year. Some include her prize-winning Pen & Ink piece, an oil pastel of her sister, and a self portrait watercolor monotype, which she says “was really fun to make.” A friend, Lily Walters (10), says once Sophie’s asked about art, “she will probably never stop talking about it.”
Go check out some of Sophie’s amazing art once school is out, the Re:Imagine24 participants’ works will be displayed publicly in the Ryan Education Center of the Art Institute throughout the summer. Also, she will be open for commissions this summer, so you can buy and own your own Sophie Yufa piece! She says, “Need a gift for friends/family? Want to snazz up your room with a cool poster? Etc? Boom, I can hook you up.”
