The artistic skills and creativity of the children in the Jewish community continue to amaze the judges of the annual Chanukah Art Contest sponsored by The Chabad House Center and The Jewish Chronicle. This year more than 20 children submitted entries. The grand-prize winner of the contest, now in its 15th year, is Nina Kulikov. Nina entered a white ceramic chanukiyah.
She won an iPad2, provided by Chabad House.
“The submissions were outstanding. They were the best I’ve ever seen,” said one seasoned judge.
Rabbi Mendy Wineberg, who as program director of The Chabad House organizes the contest every year, said you can see by looking at the entries that the children understand the spirit of the Festival of Lights.
“This contest gets them thinking about what Chanukah really means, not just the material aspect of the holiday,” Rabbi Wineberg said.
Isaac Decker wins the K-4 division, submitting his creation “Dreidel Bird.” Molly Emanuel McGlynn’s “Tree of Life-Light” is the upper division winner for grades 5-8. Both of these winners will receive a digital camera, also courtesy of Chabad House.
The winning entries
Nine-year-old Nina Kulikov, the daughter of Vicky and Andre Kulikov, is a member of Kehilath Israel Synagogue and is a fourth-grade student at Trailwood Elementary School. She said she chose her design, titled “Miracle of Lights,” because she wanted something simple “that wasn’t too fancy but would represent the miracle of lights.”
A student of artist Nicole Emanuel, Nina used porcelain, paint and wood to make her chanukiah. It features the two faces of God (one on each side) and four figures which represent the Jewish people celebrating the miracle of lights
Nina created the chanukiah by sculpting the porcelain clay and having it fired. Then she painted the wooden base white and glued the individual pieces to the wood. She chose to leave her creation white and unglazed, and even chose to use white candles, for what she calls a more dramatic effect.
She’s thrilled she won an iPad for her creation.
“I’m excited to see all the different apps that I can use,” Nina said.
Molly Emanuel McGlynn, the 10-year-old daughter of Nicole Emanuel and Luke McGlynn, is a fifth-grade student at Briarwood Elementary School and is the upper division winner. Molly said she chose the theme of her entry, “Tree of Life-Light,” because she’s “always been into earthy things.”
“I would take walks in the woods and my room has the same theme as my project,” Molly said. “I just thought it would be a good idea for a menorah.”
Molly originally tried to craft her tree out of cardboard and wires, but said she couldn’t get that to work. Then she decided to ask her mother for some clay.
“Before we put the clay in the kiln, I poked holes with wires so I could put the leaves in the fired clay,” she said.
Molly made the tree leaves out of tissue paper and chose LED candles for the flames, which are supported by the leaves on the tree.
Isaac Decker, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and a member of Congregation Beth Shalom, came up with the idea for his “Dreidel Bird,” after listening to a song by the same name by the Macaroons. (It can be found on YouTube or at www.macaroons.com.) The song is about a dreidel with wings that lives in a nest.
Isaac, the son of Lainie and Jim Decker, said he used clay, plastic and wooden dreidels and a piece of wood from the woodpile to make his project. He entered the contest because he “wanted to let people see my art work.”
Being totally honest, he added, “I also wanted the prize.”
Judges noted that a variety of materials were used to create this year’s entries. Besides clay, entries were made from crayon, paint, beads, food, recycled materials and Legos.
Entries on display
For the first time, all the entries are on display in the lobby of Village Shalom and will remain on display until the conclusion of Chanukah. Entries will be returned to Chabad House and can be picked up there until the end of January. For more information, contact or call 913-649-4852.
Visitors will get a chance to view all the outstanding pieces of art. A framed series of photographs submitted by Avi Brudoley, a fifth-grade student at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy is just one entry on display.
“I like that you can see the dreidel spinning. You can tell a lot of time was spent on this,” one judge said.
Sydney Seigle, a fourth-grade student at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehdudah, submitted “Chanukah in the Heartland Menorah,” which used cans of food as the base. She noted on her entry form that she planned to donate the materials to Yachad: The Kosher Food Pantry following the conclusion of Chanukah.
“This young lady was thinking about more than just winning a great prize when she made her creation,” one of the judges commented.
Blumah Wineberg of The Chabad House visited with a parent one day as an entry was dropped off.
“She said she can’t ever get her child to do art except for this contest. She said he starts thinking about what he’s going to enter in June. That is really impressive,” Blumah Wineberg said.