Warhol, Twombly Among Past Recipients
A Rockbridge County High School sophomore has earned one of the highest honors available to student artists in the country.
Liam Justo won a National Gold Medal and an American Visions Award in the Scholastic Art & Wr iting Awards for his photog r aph, “Quinlan,” placing him among a small percentage of students recognized at the national level each year.
The awards, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, are the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens, dating back to 1923. Past recipients include artists such as Andy Warhol and Lexington native Cy Twombly.
Justo’s winning photograph centers on a familiar subject: his younger brother.
“Quinlan is my little brother,” he explained in an email interview with The News-Gazette. “I thought the contrast between how small he is and the size of his tuba was comical. He’s been playing the tuba since the sixth grade, when he was even smaller.”
The image was created as part of a class assignment focused on environmental portraiture, a style that uses a subject’s surroundings to add context and meaning. Justo said he built the scene around his brother’s practice routine.
“In the environmental portrait style of photography, a photographer combines the subject’s surroundings to provide details for the portrait,” he said. “Quinlan was practicing with his tuba, and I took that opportunity to set up sheet music around him to demonstrate the effort he puts in for his band concert. I used the spotlight on him as a way of showing that he was doing well.”
Justo said he often uses family members as subjects for his school projects, and the idea for the image came from leaning into both humor and composition.
More than 400 entries were submitted from across Southwest Virginia through the region’s affiliate, the Fine Arts Center of the New River Valley. Students who earn top regional honors advance to national judging, where only about 30% receive medals.
Four students from the region were recognized this year at the national level, with Justo the only one to receive both a Gold Medal and the American Visions Award, which also includes a scholarship.
Despite the recognition, Justo said the result caught him off guard.
“I was surprised when I found out I won the regional award, and was in the running for the national award,” he said. “When I won the national awards, I was very surprised and excited. I thought the photograph was okay, but my teacher, Mr. Hamelman must have seen something more and submitted it to the Scholastic Art Awards.”
Justo has been studying photography for about two years, though he said his interest started earlier, tagging along with his father, an amateur photographer. At school, he’s developed a process that mixes assignment guidelines with experimentation.
“My creative process includes thinking about the name of the photograph assignments I get, and looking at the example photographs Mr. Hamelman provides,” he said. “Then I try to come up with unique ideas that are different from other students. I like to play around with different lighting styles and shoot at different times of the day in lots of different settings.”
He also shoots sports photography for the high school, which he said has helped him learn to adapt quickly in changing conditions.
Justo will travel to New York City in June for the national ceremony at Carnegie Hall, where award-winning work from across the country will be showcased.
“I am looking forward to seeing all of the other awardwinning works and meeting the other student artists,” he said. “I’m also planning to get in some photography sessions around NYC.”
He said he is still refining his style but hopes to pursue photography as a career.
“I hope to become a portrait and sports photographer as a full-time career,” he said. “I’m still figuring out my style, and refining my photography skills. I’m thinking about different colleges to attend for photography.”
JUSTO
