By Kishawna John

For 18-year-old Murrow senior You Xiang Li, who also goes by Dean Li, art is certainly a passion for him. 

 “I have been doing art since I was a child, but in 7th grade, I took it seriously so I have been doing art for five years,” he said.  

At Murrow there are many creative artists, who are highlighted through various competitions and their work is displayed throughout the building. Li is one of those who really stands out.

His most notable and recent achievement would be winning three Gold Key awards for Scholastic Arts and Writings, which is one of the most prestigious artistic awards for 7 to 12th graders in the United States.

The Key awards gives students an opportunity to enter in their art work and have a chance to be recognized, win awards, and have scholarship opportunities from colleges and universities. 

“I feel grateful for the opportunity I had to participate in such a prestigious event,” Li said. “But most importantly I’m proud of myself for all the years of hard work I’ve done that lead up to this achievement.” 

In addition to being a Gold Key recipient, the senior has also had his work displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 “At first I was in disbelief that my painting is in a museum, especially one this prestigious and popular,” he said. “Now I just feel grateful and joyful that my artistic skills and effort is being recognized by people.”   

Image: One of Li’s recent paintings.

Li said his art work represents himself.

“I think I’m proud of them and it expresses my identity and I think people can relate to my art,” said Li. 

The Assistant Principal of Arts, Mrs.Spyridoula Kontarinis, said she believes Li is a great artist. 

“I admired Dean Li,” she said. “He’s really a young talented artist. He is a lovely member of the Arts.” 

Image: One of Li’s Sculptures is proudly placed in one of Murrow’s many art display cases.

Being such a young artist and winning awards is a very huge accomplishment, but Li said it’s all about putting in the work.

“I feel like it is definitely a challenging class and you have to spend some time outside doing it, but it’s something I enjoy,” he said. “There are a variety of different classes, you are surrounded by other artistic students and it inspires you to work harder, I like it.”