How does a minority group threatened with death respond when that death sentence has been lifted? In 10-year-old Shayel Layni’s winning drawing for Washington Jewish Week’s annual Purim art contest, those happy people stage a parade in vivid, colorful costume.
Shayel, a fourth-grader at the Leo Bernstein Jewish Academy of Fine Arts in Silver Spring, says she created her work by studying a similar picture in art class. She then drew with markers the characters with their hamantashen, noisemakers, hobby horse and mask, and colored the confetti with pencils.
Purim begins at sundown Saturday.
Shayel’s artwork, which also appears on this week’s cover, is one of nine contest winners we chose in three age groups. All are displayed on these pages. Our judges enjoyed these and the many more pictures that we received. And if you don’t see your artwork here but you love drawing, coloring or painting, we hope you’ll try again. Our Chanukah art contest is only eight months away.
