The YoungArts competition is renowned for identifying artists ages 15-18 across the United States. Out of nearly 13,000 applicants, 734 winners were selected across 10 categories including classical music, film, writing, dance and visual arts. White Station High School (WSHS) student Anson Yan (11) was one of 70 winners selected in the visual arts category.

“Visual arts is different because [there are] more people [in the] Visual Arts category, so it’s one of the hardest to win,” Yan said.

Yan’s art journey started in elementary school when his art teacher introduced the color wheel to him. Yan then started to grow fond of color, and began experimenting with charcoal. He was inspired by his favorite cartoons at the time, such as Pokémon, and drew his favorite characters.

“Actually, watching anime was the reason I started doing portraits in the first place,” Yan said. “So, I used to draw anime characters, and they had faces. But my dad actually wanted me to go more in-depth into actual portraiture, like people. And I started experimenting with people’s skins, like, from all types of backgrounds. And that’s when I started doing portraits and, for the past few years, I’ve been doing portraits.”

In seventh grade, Yan began participating in art competitions, but with little success. It was not until eighth grade that he discovered new techniques after being introduced to a new art teacher. His teacher helped him improve value contrasting and composition in his art. Yan also started participating in more competitions, and his art skills matured.

“I started drawing more of the way [the teacher] drew,” Yan said. “I learned how to crosshatch and that improved my detail making, like, marking skills.”

Yan’s approach to new pieces changed as well as his inspiration. Yan adopted elderly people as his subjects for portraits. He requests pictures from his grandparents from China or elderly people at his church as references for photos, allowing him to experiment in his portraits with their wrinkle structure and composition.

“In all cultures, I think, respecting your elderly is a big component of daily lives,” Yan said. “We don’t know what they’ve been through… they’re hiding a lot of talents and stuff. So, I really wanted to explore their experiences and the values they hold. That’s what inspired me.”

Participants must research a specific concept then create 10 pieces regarding that topic. Then they record the media and supplies used for each piece. Applications go through multiple panels and evaluations before winners are selected. The application process includes writing two essays and an artist statement, along with shorter responses about the artist.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, this writing is long. There’s no shot of winning, right? There’s an application fee.’ So I really didn’t want to do it,” Yan said. “But my mom was like, ‘Yeah, just go ahead.’ So I just listened to my mom and did that.”

Many people apply but do not succeed in winning the nationwide YoungArts competition as only about five percent of applicants win according to youngarts.org. WSHS had two other YoungArts winners this year — Andrew Zhou and Aashrita Butti — which is unusual for a public school with no specialization in the arts.

“Those preppy private [art] schools’ top students usually get 10 to 12 people per year winning YoungArts. Really crazy, but it’s kind of expected, because they’re really good schools,” Yan said. “So, the fact that we have three people from our school this year is already a testament to how good our school is.”

Yan’s private art teacher gave him the confidence to participate in local and nationwide art competitions.Yan won the national Scholastic Art and Writing award, one of the most prestigious in the nation, as a ninth grader.  Before this, his private art teacher had never had a student that won. Since then, the studio has had three other people who have won.

“I don’t think anyone from Tennessee has won visual arts in YoungArts for a long time, so, I feel like it’s just tone setting,” Yan said. “Hopefully I can inspire some people to get into art and do the same kind of ideas.”

Art has been an integral component of Yan’s life for years, so he plans to incorporate it into his life past high school. In the future, Yan intends to major in political science or architecture, and is considering minoring in visual arts.

“You can only do so much before dropping what you’re passionate about, and I told myself art was something I really wanted to stick with because I’ve been doing it since young,” Yan said. “It’s been a positive factor in my life. Whenever I feel sad or down, I just escape into art and listen to Spotify.”