LEXINGTON — Luke Haring enrolled in an art class for the same reasons many kids do.
His friends were registering. It sounded like fun. He needed a fine art credit.
“It’s a great outlet to have. That’s kind of how art started for me,” said Haring, a senior at Lexington High School. “I just enjoyed taking about it with my friends, even though I wasn’t particularly good.”
Once he tried his hand at ceramics, something clicked. Haring took ceramics three years in a row, honing a craft that recently earned him recognition on a national scale.
Haring was one of just eight students to earn a gold medal in the portfolio category of the 2026 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
The competition included more than 335,000 entries from students across the U.S. and Canada. Only the top one percent of artists receive recognition.
One of Haring’s pieces, a green and black segmented vase, will be on display for a year at Scholastic’s national headquarters in Pennsylvania.
“It’s really cool, but surprising,” Haring said. “I never imagined that it’d get this kind of recognition.”
Gold medalists each receive a $12,500 scholarship. Haring and his art teacher Austin Javurek will also have the chance to attend an awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City in June.
Haring named his portfolio Symmetry Interrupted.
Extra elements transform ordinary pieces into fine art
Javurek said what makes Haring’s portfolio unique is that he mastered the craft, then took it a step further.
Each piece has an element that isn’t necessary for its function, but elevates the aesthetic and demonstrates enhanced technical skill.
As a post secondary student, Haring has spent hours in Javurek’s room on the days when he doesn’t have college courses, experimenting with new techniques and stylistic elements. Sometimes, he discovers new ideas on TikTok and other social media platforms.
“All the pieces are wheel thrown, but then they have some sort of characteristic that makes them different or unique,” he explained.
Haring sliced one vase and stacked it into three sections, balanced but off kilter. He suspended another on six metal legs, like the body of a spider. There’s a piece with a magnet on the inside, holding a metal ball in place that can move along a track on the exterior surface.
The most challenging piece in Haring’s portfolio is a trisected vase sewn together by pieces of silver wire.
Haring said those extras were the most time-consuming part of the project. Some pieces took multiple attempts.
When asked if there was ever a moment when he was tempted to give up on a piece, Haring and Javurek both chuckled.
“There were definitely some times when we got frustrated with the process and things were difficult,” Haring said.
He credited his teacher with helping him get through.
“I always had a million questions to ask and he was always willing to help me out,” Haring said.
Javurek and Haring both expressed gratitude for the artistic opportunities available at Lexington. The high school offers classes in ceramics, digital art, drawing, painting and studio jewelry.
“Lexington has always been amazing in how it supports the arts. You don’t find that in a lot of schools,” Javurek said.
Haring will graduate from Lexington High School this year. He plans to attend Mount Vernon Nazarene University in the fall.
He’s still deciding on a career path, but he said he hopes to stay involved in ceramics work in some fashion.
“I’m going to school next year and I need an art class, so I’d like to take a ceramics class,” he said.
