Senior Tyler Burelison is now the third student from MTHS to receive the Best of Show, specifically for his piece named Ancient Guardian of the Forest in the Seattle Metals Guild in the Passing the Torch show.

The exhibition is on display for about three months in the spring. The first day of the Passing the Torch exhibition was on April 20, 2018, and works will continue being on display until June 24, 2018. Works are displayed at the Bellevue Arts Museum for the public eye.

The award ceremony was held on April 28 at the Bellevue Arts Museum. Receiving the Best of Show/Juror’s Choice award meant the panel of established judges deemed Burelison’s piece as the best piece of the entire exhibition.

Burelison built a sculpture named Ancient Guardian of the Forest, which he submitted into the hollowware/small sculpture category. The sculpture was of a dragon casted in bronze.

“I was delighted to attend the Passing the Torch Exhibition on Saturday at The Bellevue Arts Museum. What a wonderful exhibition by students from nine Washington high schools,” the president of The Seattle Metals Guild, Jennifer Stenhouse, said.

The Seattle Metals Guild hosts the annual statewide Passing the Torch jewelry and metal arts competition and exhibition for Washington State high school students.

“This program gives students the experience of exhibiting their metal work and encourages them to consider a life in metal arts,” the Seattle Metals Guild says on their website. Passing the Torch maintains a network of high schools teachers who teach metals and jewelry courses in Washington schools, providing professional development opportunities for the teachers.

The first Passing the Torch exhibition was held at the Tacoma Art Museum in 2003. “The program has grown over the years and now includes over 40 schools throughout the State,” the Seattle Metals Guild says.

Each year the exhibition displays three categories which are Jewelry, Small Sculpture/Hollowware and a rotation themed third category. Two established judges in jewelry and metal artists, gallery owners or educators known in their field are chosen by the Passing the Torch committee.

For Burelison, it was his second time competing in the Passing the Torch show.

“I did compete last year where I won second place. Getting second place pushed me to work better in the next competition, which I luckily won this year,” Burelison said.

Since Burelison has competed in the competition before, only winning second place until this year’s competition, he said, “It feels good to win, I put a lot of work and detail into my piece and it just shows that hard work pays off.”

Although Burelison’s initial reasons for competing was to have his work recognized, he greatly appreciated the opportunity to view the other pieces of metalwork at the show.

“My purpose was honestly just to win, but it’s also very nice to see all the pieces that so many people worked hard on being recognized and displayed,” Burelison said.