There's a connection between Madison Spach, a fourth-grader at Kimmel Farm Elementary School, and Rachel Whitt, a sophomore who attends West Forsyth High School.
Both are winners in this year's Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools holiday card contest.
And, at some point, both have been taught by Marsha Thrift.
Rachel, 15, took private art classes with Thrift when she was younger. Madison, 9, is one of Thrift's students this year.
Donny Lambeth, the chairman of the school board, selected Spach's simple, graphic drawing of a Christmas tree as his pick for a holiday card. Rachel's Dickensian drawing of a carriage and two horses was selected by Don Martin.
The contest is a local, annual tradition. Martin gave honors to 11 other cards from nearly 500 cards submitted by art teachers across the school system. The art teachers choose five cards from their students' work.
Thrift helped her students get started by brainstorming with them on iconic holiday symbols. Madison chose a Christmas tree. At home, she helps her mother, Angie Spach, decorate their tree. "It has the most decorations on it, and it gets you in the Christmas spirit," she said.
"I was pleasantly surprised," Thrift said. "She's an awesome student, and I'm very happy to have her."
Rachel didn't have anything in particular but a carriage in mind when she started drawing her card. Her style is literal and realistic. And she likes drawing horses -- she has one, a Saddlebred named Mimi. She worked on the drawing in class and at home. She had a little trouble with the background, but you wouldn't know to look at it.
Her card shows a man in a top hat driving a carriage and two handsome horses through a wintry streetscape, the buildings behind trimmed in greenery for the season. There's not a line out of place. "She wants everything perfect," said Terri Hester, her art teacher.
It's displayed with another of Rachel's drawings in a case near West Forsyth's front lobby. Principal Kurt Telford chose a calligraphy project that Rachel did last year as this year's Christmas card for the school.
Students are under tight guidelines that limit the size and color of the card. They can use any medium -- paints, pen and ink or others -- but they have to work in black, white and gray because the cards aren't printed in color. And, in many ways, that's a lot like life, said Heidi Wicker, the school system's lead visual-art teacher.
"They're given a problem as if they are an illustrator for Hallmark or another card company," she said. "It's a career-based lesson. It's a great opportunity to talk to kids about careers in the arts."
Over the holiday break, Madison plans on spending time with her grandmother, who lives next door, and visiting family in Yadkinville. Rachel will visit relatives in Virginia.
Rachel doesn't have much time to work on art in her spare time, though she said she'd consider a career in design. Her hobbies include horseback riding, dancing and playing guitar and flute.
And Madison, whose favorite subject is math, not art (though she likes it), likes to play school at home.
In true holiday spirit, she was generous about giving out praise to other students' cards.
"I never thought mine was going to get picked. I saw a second grader's, and it was awesome," she said.
lgiovanelli@wsjournal.com
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