Iyla Lada, a Palo Alto High School 10th grader, won $1,000 and the Second Place Award in an international student art competition. Her colored-pencil and graphite drawing honors heart surgery pioneer Vivien Thomas.
Lada's piece, "Tendrils of Legacy," uses imagery of tendrils connecting a heart to a mop, referencing Thomas's early identification as a janitor and the start of his career in medicine, according to Patch. ARTEFFECT, the visual arts education initiative that runs the competition, announced the winners on Monday, Oct. 19.
Thomas, born in 1910, was an American laboratory supervisor who played a major role in developing surgery for children with congenital heart defects, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. He worked alongside surgeon Alfred Blalock and cardiologist Helen B. Taussig at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Thomas joined Blalock at Johns Hopkins in 1941 after working with him at Vanderbilt University. He later taught surgeons and laboratory technicians. Johns Hopkins awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws in 1976.
Lada was among 24 student artists selected to share a combined $24,000 in awards through ARTEFFECT's first summer competition, according to a Milken Family Foundation press release. The competition's "Innovation Generation" theme invited high school students in grades 9 through 12 and recently graduated seniors to explore innovators whose work made lasting contributions to society.
Students created paintings, drawings, digital art, mixed media works and sculptures inspired by more than 40 innovators across science, medicine and the arts. Award recipients represented schools and programs in the United States, Canada, Hungary, Lithuania, Mexico and South Korea.
The top prize, a $3,000 Grand Prize, went to Grace Li, a 10th grader at Lakeside School in Seattle, for an acrylic painting celebrating Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American to earn a medical degree in the United States. Serena Jung of Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, New Jersey, won the $2,000 Best in Show award. Nihaar Pinninti of Troy High School in Fullerton won the $1,500 first-place prize.
ARTEFFECT, founded by philanthropist Lowell Milken, accepted summer competition submissions from May 15 through Sept. 15. ARTEFFECT Executive Director Toni Guglielmo said in the press release that the competition lets young artists visually explore the stories of innovators from history and reflect on what innovation means to them.
The organization also runs a separate annual competition, free to enter and open to students in grades 6 through 12, with submissions accepted through April 19, 2027. Details are available on the ARTEFFECT competition page.
