Senior Earns Top Honors at Congressional Art Competition

Five Academy of the Holy Names student artists were selected for this year’s 14th Congressional District and Next Generation High School Art Competition, a juried exhibition hosted at the Tampa Museum of Art.

Among them, Zia Florschutz ’26 earned the Ann Sklar Scholarship and received U.S. Congressional Recognition for her work—one of the competition’s top honors.

Zia’s piece, Cramped, is a mixed media work that explores themes of identity and expectation. Through the use of iron, rust, and unconventional materials, she examined the tension of feeling confined by pre-ordained gender roles and the process of carving out space for individuality.

This year’s competition was highly selective, with more than 120 submissions from 28 high schools. Just over 50 works were chosen for exhibition.

In addition to Zia, four other Holy Names students had artwork selected, representing a range of disciplines and levels:

• Gabriella Teixeira ’26 (Sculpture)
• Savannah Aschenbrenner ’27 (Portfolio Honors)
• Juno Choe ’28 (2D Honors)
• Hannalea Furr ’29 (Photography)

Together, their work highlights the strength and diversity of the Academy’s visual arts program.

During the awards ceremony, Zia had the opportunity to speak with U.S. Representative Kathy Castor about her creative process and meet the family whose generosity funds the Ann Sklar Scholarship.

The exhibition is on view at the Tampa Museum of Art’s Education Center through April 12. Admission is free and open to the public.