FBCA Visual Arts Program Wins Tenth TAPPS 5A Art State Championship

Fort Bend Christian Academy's Visual Arts program was recently recognized as the 2023 TAPPS 5A Art State Champions. FBCA was also awarded this recognition in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and this year, 2023. 

 

Under the direction of the Director of Fine Arts, Robert Sanders, the program continues to excel and encompass a wide variety of visual art mediums. FBCA has 157 students who participate in the art program at the Upper School level.  This year, 35 Upper School Students submitted work for the State Competition. FBCA scored over 313 points, which was 123.5 points more than the second competitor and culminated in the State Championship title.  

 

At the state level, FBCA students have excelled in drawing – black & white & color, communication design, computer rendered art, painting, printmaking, 2d mixed media,  photography black & white & color, sculpture, 2d relief, fashion design, textile arts, applied/industrial design, pottery, ceramics, senior portfolio, art history, on-site drawing seek and sketch – black and white & color, and short film (narrative, documentary, animation). 

 

“This year as an Upper School we were charged to “Be the City on the Hill.” We have to start with the hearts and souls of the artist/students. Love your students and anything is possible but if they love you back you have something special. Often I remind our team about a Jim Elliot quote; ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.’ Sacrifice does not come cheap and it will cost us all something. We don't want to confuse Legacy with our Christ Centered purpose to partner with our students to be salt and light. We balance the journey with the words of Robert Kushner in our visual arts program that states, ‘The idea of forging a new kind of art, about hope, healing, redemption, refuge, while maintaining visual sophistication and intellectual integrity is our growing movement, we want artist  to work toward the meaning of the word vanguard,’” Director of Fine Arts, Robert Sanders, said.

“This year, myself alongside of Mr. Ryan Baptiste, a four-year 2D art teacher, captured our 10th TAPPS State Art Championship at FBCA. I wanted to dedicate the journey to winning the State Championship to my dad, Robert A Sanders, who was diagnosed with cancer on December 17, 2022, and passed away on April 2, 2023 - Palm Sunday,” Sanders said. 

“Myself and Mr. Baptiste wanted to make this year a tribute to our fathers, who have both passed, and I wanted to dedicate this championship in honor of my father, who was also an principal/educator for over 28 years. The invaluable partnership and brotherhood that Mr. Baptiste and I have towards each our Friendship, Family, Faith + Art makes trusting each other the joy of listening to the ideas our students have in creating art.”

“This year, our artists wandered to dream of things that never were and create them. Our students believed that God designed us with the power to draw resources of creation to bear on our team's unity to create and just work very hard to make art. My Dad often said, "Dream dreams of the impossible and allow God to determine which ones become reality.’ Mr. Baptiste and I have some of the most beautiful students to dream dreams of the impossible with this year. The best is yet to come,” Sanders said.