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M'art'ch Madness 2025
"Failing Forward"
Grand Prize Winner
Gracie Harding
Hunter High School
Antifragility is the ability of something or someone to improve after undergoing stress or conflict. My choreography, Antifragile, explores my struggle with depression and how I learned to use that struggle to become a stronger and better person. I learned so many important lessons from this experience - mainly about empathy and patience. In other words, I learned to “Fail Forward,” and that hard experiences like depression are shaping me to become someone that I am proud of. My piece was inspired by a quote by Xan Oku, “May the flowers remind us why the rain was so necessary.” May we all learn to be thankful for the rain that gave us the opportunity to bloom. May we all “Fail Forward.”
Runner Up
Samir Rivera
Mountain View High School
I created this piece about two things I've failed at in the past: gouache paints and rollerskating. As a kid, I had always wanted to learn how to roller skate, but my parents never really had the time to teach me. So I eventually taught myself at the age of 15, which took a LOT of failing to learn. I also used gouache to paint this illustration, which was a medium I really despised due to how tough it was to use. This piece taught me how important it is to focus on the progress you're making rather than the final result.
Judge's Choice
Jason Oveson
Wasatch Elementary
Just so you know, my art is knitted not crocheted. I used garter stitch with a picot edging for the green base, for my dead flower I also used garter stich and picot edging, for my marigold I used stocking stitch with a picot edging, and for my roses I used garter stitch and a normal cast off, for my daffodil I used stocking stitch, and for my lily I used stocking stitch. The reason my art fits the theme is because, when a flower dies it spreads TONS of seeds. Dying is like the ultimate failure. The death of one flower leads to the life of thousands of other flowers. This living flowers represent our ability to learn from our failures and mistakes. So flowers are a great example of “Failing Forward”.
Gabrielle Dance
White Horse High School
Failing forward makes me think about my own art-making process and the mistakes I make along the way. This painting was inspired by pages from my sketchbook. Like many artists, I keep a sketchbook with me where there is a wide range of art from simple doodles made on a loose piece of paper to fully rendered and finished works that take up entire pages. The pages of my sketch book are also used to create sketches that are later made into full paintings. This is the story of my chaotic way of stitching things together in order to fully flesh out an idea. This makes it easier for me to go through my process and not to harp on the mistakes. I have grown from my failures and, with the support of others, have learned how to make changes moving forward, whether as an artist or in other learning environments.
M'Art'ch Madness 2025 Finalists
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