Art earned Dakota senior Ashley Royster two national gold medals, but only one trip to New York, due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

“I’m definitely going to Carnegie Hall. My parents are more excited than me,” Royster said.

This is the second year in a row that 18-year-old Royster has won a gold medal for art at the national Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition. Last year she had to accept her award by mail, but this year she is looking forward to a trip to Carnegie Hall in New York to receive her second award on June 9.

Royster has been studying art with teacher Cynthia Helvey for two years at Dakota High School. She began her award-winning oil painting for this school year in September and finished it around the end of January 2022. She learned of her victory and the trip to Carnegie Hall around March 23. Royster’s winning painting this year is titled “The Price of Freedom,” based on the subject matter she chose herself and inspired by the Ahmaud Arbery case.

“I care a lot about political issues. I always have,” Royster said.

Royster wanted his painting to reflect his beliefs about the price of freedom.

“I don’t think there’s a peaceful way to do that,” Royster said.

Royster’s previous gold medal was for art on a similar subject. In the 2020-2021 school year, Royster won a Gold Key in the Macomb County School Art and Writing Awards for his artwork, before winning his National Gold Medal school art and writing awards. In the 2021-2022 school year, Royster earned a Gold Key and American Visions Award nomination at the Macomb County Scholastic Art and Writing Awards before earning his national competition win.

Helvey said Royster displayed “The Price of Freedom” at Wayne State University in Detroit during the Tri-County High School Expo, which ran from Feb. 17 to March 3. During the 2020-21 school year, Royster’s art won first place at this show, earning him a $4,000 scholarship to Wayne State University and a gift certificate.

Currently, some of Royster’s artwork, including “The Price of Freedom,” is on display at the Anton Art Center as part of the annual Macomb County High School Student Art Show. Royster won ribbons, prize money and a gift certificate at the show for her work.

“She won two awards, Best in Grade is one, and the other is Best of Show,” Helvey said.

The Macomb County High School Student Art Show is an annual county-wide visual arts competition open to students in grades 7-12. This year, the Anton Art Center received 737 works of art submitted to a jury. Of these, 290 works by 161 students, presented by 32 teachers from 21 schools, were selected for the exhibition. Around 97 works of art were chosen for the awards.

The show ended at the Anton Art Center on April 12.