SEBASTIAN — Bianca Ritchie picked up the entry form for the Teen Art Show contest at the North Indian River County Library in Sebastian and immediately heard a voice. She assumed it was the voice of her own thoughts. It said, You can’t do this. Who do you think you are?
According to a Sebastian artist who will judge the entries, Bianca is not alone.
Negative thoughts are limiting and damaging to everyone who wants to fly, but for teens – and especially girls – negative self-talk does nothing but clip their wings and relegate them to a life of limits.
“When a girl becomes a teen, she is suddenly judged on something that has nothing to do with her true worth as a person: her looks and her body,” said Patricia Harsch, who speaks from experience. “If a girl is not grounded in her own self worth apart from this phenomenon of puberty, she will be afraid to be who she truly is if she thinks it will cost her the approval of peers or the love of a boy. She is unable to handle this change, and her self-esteem plummets.”
It is this reason Harsch is so passionate about investing her time and talent in the contest, judging it for half its six years, and going above and beyond as cheerleader, coach and instructor, if asked.
It’s no conflict of interest; Harsch judges on time and effort spent, rather than simply how much the image looks like its subject.
The theme for the contest is “Beneath the Surface,” which can be whatever that means to the artist.
Age groupings are 12 to14 and 15 to 18, with first-place and runner-up prizes for both groups. Submissions are due by July 12 and will be on display at the library for a month afterward. Entry forms and rules are available at the library or at the website, www.sebastianlibrary. com.
The creation of the contest, sponsored by the Friends of the North Indian River County Library, was motivated by something other than stoking the esoteric expression of the inner self.
Reference librarian Amanda Atwater just wanted teens to haul themselves to the shelves, something they are not prone to do in this age group.
“The little kids are brought in by the moms, for Story Hour and to get them books and videos and whatnot,” Atwater said. “Other parents bring their elementary school children in to fulfill must-read lists or to log reading minutes for rewards, and the youngsters love the children’s items and programs. But teens don’t know what we have for them once they hit this age group, so they don’t know what they’re missing.”
While middle school and high school students also have lists of summer must-reads to which they are directed, they typically come for little else, Atwater said.
“They don’t want to be monitored. They don’t want to be shushed. They want something fun to read instead of what’s mandatory.”
Once drawn into the library for a Teen Art Show contest form, Atwater takes teens on a tour of the teen section that they have never had call to discover before.
Once in the library, teens come alive with wonder at the offerings of a teen section just for them, she said, with access to books, magazines, DVDs and that appeal to them, specifically.
“They like to read about the popular vampire themes, coming of age, falling in love,” Atwater said. “Once they are hooked, they will come in for the next book in the series, and so on. It does not matter the theme of what interests them, the point is they are reading and they know where to come back for more just like it, and maybe branch out from there.”
Once a teen comes in for an entry form, odds are they will return at least once: to bring in their completed work.
“They see that this is something they can do on their own time table, rather than a have-to by a tight deadline as they have to do with school work,” Atwater said. “This is something they choose to do because they want to. The only firm requirement is that they get it in by the deadline, but there is plenty of time for that.”
Despite the many benefits, both of the art and literature aficionados hit the wall when it comes to attracting large numbers of teens to either medium.
Last year, the contest drew 18 entrants. The current goal is a modest 30.
This, despite the fact there are 1,912 teens in grades nine through 12 and 669 tweens and teens in grades six through eight just at Sebastian River High and Sebastian Middle schools.
Atwater’s battle is an uphill one for a number of reasons, according to the Teen Librarian Toolbox. The web-based resource’s specific purpose is to spur teenage reading at a time the practice languishes.
Aliteracy is a term for people who may have good reading skills, but for whatever reason choose not to read.
“I don’t like to read,” is the most frequent answer to surveys of teens who read the least. Aliteracy is different that illiteracy, which means one does not know how to read.
As Mark Twain once said, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
A number of consequences follow for both groups, chief among them a limited ability to earn.
In teens, however, the “I don’t like to read,” response often has a deeper meaning, according to Teen Librarian Toolbox, which states:
“There are also some tweens and teens who actually do like to read, but because of the perceived lack-of-coolness factor of it, they choose to hide it. They are closeted readers, if you will.”
Thus, the obstacle to win artists and readers is one Harsch and Atwater share: peer pressure.
Harsch knows her adversary. Children can be the meanest creatures to one another, but in the teen age group it can become downright deadly, both to body and self image, she said.
As with Bianca, Harsch gives teens lots of encouragement, and helps them to “consider the source.”
“Approval and acceptance: over time, as we get older, if we strive to become enlightened, we learn that we can give this to ourselves,” Harsch said.
Art is actually a way that we can achieve this at any age, Harsch added.
“Anyone can draw, no matter what their talent. It doesn’t have to be costly. It is a way they can express themselves,” Harsch said.
