The mission of the TAEA Junior Visual Arts Scholastic Event is to recognize exemplary student achievement in the Visual Arts by providing art students a program with a standard of excellence in which to achieve.
Online registration opens in December and closes in February.
Regional Events are held on Saturdays during the months of March to early May
Only academically eligible middle school students in grades 6-8 can enter a maximum of two original artworks.
Teachers are responsible for registering online at https://www.taea.org/jrvase/.
Teachers must submit all required forms online, and they must verify if a student is academically eligible to participate.
Students must attend the Regional Event and have their original artwork with them at the time of their adjudication. All student artworks are "qualified" by a qualification panel prior to being juried. Artwork not meeting the qualification standards will be disqualified.
Jurors evaluate artwork using a numeric rating system based on an established rubric.
Artworks receiving a Superior Rating (IV) are presented a Regional Medal.
A set percentage of artworks with Superior Ratings advance to area judging
Artworks qualified to advance to the state are presented an Area Medal.
Each student who enters receives a Certificate of Merit for having his or her artwork selected to participate at the Regional level. Regional medal awards are presented to students who receive a Superior Rating (IV) at the Regional Event. State medallions are presented to students who receive an Exemplary Rating (IV) at the conclusion of the event.
The first successful VASE Middle School pilot was held on April 24, 1999. The pilot was designed to determine if a VASE program would benefit the students in middle school art. This event was a tremendous success with 6 districts, 9 schools, and 10 teachers represented. 57 Middle School art students submitted their works of art for the interview process. A second pilot for Junior VASE was in April of 2000 and had 2 school districts, 7 schools, and 70 students. After that Junior VASE became an official program for Intermediate, Middle Schools, and Junior High Schools in Texas in 2001. Junior VASE encompasses grades 6 through 8.
Regional Events may occur from late March to mid-May on a Saturday. The regional event is the culminating event for Junior VASE followed by the Platinum Event. Currently, there are events in every region except 2, and 9. Several regions have multiple events.
To participate, teachers must be a member in good standing with TAEA and submit all required participation information online at http://www.taea.org/VASE/. An entry fee of $15 for each regional entry is required, and students may enter two pieces. The artworks are judged by a team of certified jurors.
Events are scheduled within the 20 TEA regional education service centers. Each region has a Regional Director(s) responsible for planning and running of their event. These events can be found on the Regional Locator map of Texas. The locator map will give you the information for your Regional Director and the dates and location for their event. Jurors will look for originality of concept, technical expertise, understanding of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), and the interpretation of the student's stated intent. The jurors evaluate the art using the following standards:
Rating 4 — Excellent
Rating 3 — Strong
Rating 2 — Developing
Rating 1 — Emerging
Students register for four different experience levels depending on the student current Level in art. All Level 1 students (or has completed but not advanced to 2) will compete in Division 1, all Level 2 students (or has completed but not advanced to 3) will be Division 2, All Level 3 students will be in Division 3, and all students in Pre AP art or High School ArtI will be in Division 4. Medals are awarded to students receiving a Rating of 4 in each division and will be judged again for the Platinum Event based and 10 % in each Division will receive a Platinum Medal. Images of these artworks will be posted on the TAEA website.