Students, parents and family members gaze at gallery wall of art created by students from schools throughout the Olympic Region. (Provided photo)

LAKE PLACID — Local student artist Leah Coolidge, a ninth grader at AuSable Valley Central School was one of three students awarded a gold medal on March 8 at the Art of the Olympians Olympic Region art-in-sports awards festivities.

A standing-room-only crowd of participating student artists, parents and family members filled the Lake Placid Conference Center hall to celebrate the artistic efforts of over 500 North Country students who participated in the seven-week art-in-sports education program titled “Olympism — A New Century of Winter Art-in-Sports,” hosted by the Al Oerter Foundation/Art of the Olympians in collaboration with the Olympic Regional Development Authority, the Lake Placid Center for the Arts and with the assistance and guidance from the leadership of the New York State Region 5 Art Teachers Association.

One hundred and twenty-five student art finalists competed for bronze, silver and gold medal honors in three divisions: elementary, middle, and high school levels. A six-member, Art of the Olympian artist panel conducted judging selections and also served as instructors of the seven-week program.

In the senior division, gold medalist Santino DeBella’s classmate Kaden Jewell was selected as the division’s silver medalist, followed by a bronze medal effort from Audrey Cook, a senior from Ticonderoga High School.

Coolidge’s gold medal work was joined in the middle school division by silver medalist Sophia Kenyon of Beekmantown and Bronze medalist Aubrey Aplin of AuSable Valley Central. Joining Eris Heald in the elementary medal category were silver medalist Bennett Babbie of Malone Davis and Mason Peck of Bouquet Valley.

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Honorable mentions to all division level student artists

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Skill levels in each division were highly contested prompting judges to add honorable mention recognition to each class.

In the high school division, local honorable mentions were given to Grace Rowe of AuSable Valley and Brianna Towner of Tupper Lake High School.

Local middle school honorable mentions were awarded to Natalie Tromblee of AuSable Valley, Connor Mannion of Lake Placid Middle School and Malekih Harkey of Tupper Lake Middle School.

Instructional student class sessions were designed to provide a lasting impression about the spirit of Olympism by focusing on sport with art and the rich history of winter sports in the Adirondacks. Leading the AOTO member Olympian/Paralympian artists contingent is AOF’s Roald Bradstock, a two-time Olympian whose affinity for impressionist art has given him the international moniker as the Olympian Picasso.

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100 Olympic students helped with giant Olympism mural

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Besides the student awards presentation, 100 art students from high schools in AuSable Valley, Tupper Lake, Beekmantown, Ticonderoga and Boquet Valley were recognized for their assistance by AOTO’s Bradstock in creating an eight-foot by 12-foot, 24-panel canvased mural, titled “Together.”

The colorful mural in the Olympism art genre, with 184,240 one-eighth-inch squares, expands on what symbolically the Olympic rings represent. Bradstock announced that the Al Oerter Foundation plans to travel and display the mural within the New York area and eventually to other parts of the United States.

AOF CEO Cathy Oerter praised and thanked District 115, New York State Assemblymember Billy Jones, for his support in bringing the organization’s educational program to the region.

“He has been the driving force for the program’s three-county creation that provided youth of the North Country the opportunity to learn the essence of Olympism while engaging in an art-in-sport program highlighting this region’s winter sports history.”

The Al Oerter Foundation, in recognition of Assemblymember Jones’ support and the relationship with the Olympic Authority, named both Assemblymember Jones and Olympic Authority President and CEO, Ashley Walden as lifetime members of the organization’s affiliate, Art of the Olympians.

The most prestigious award — the Al Oerter Award of Excellence in education — was presented to Region 5 New York State Art Teachers Association Chair Shannon Piche-Smith of Beekmantown Central School for the important role she played in planning and implementing the Olympic Region art-in-sport program.