Student Artists and Writers Spark a Celebration of Creativity; 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Winners Exhibits Open at ED

“I had a vision and just went for it. It took me about three or four months to create the piece. Virginia Dragoslavic, NSU University School, Davie, Florida, on her ceramic vase.

A standing-room-only audience of 230 students, family members, educators, arts leaders, and ED staff joined in the celebration. Featured ED speaker Jason Botel, acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, summed up the value of arts education from his perspective: “Through these exhibits at the Department of Education, and the opportunities your schools provide, we can gain a better understanding of each other.”   Virginia McEnerney, executive director of the Alliance, pointed out that many previous winners are contributing immensely through their abilities in other fields because of their success in the Scholastic contest: “If you want to be a human rights activist or an educator or an entrepreneur,” she said, “we talk to lots of people in those fields who also point to this experience of winning a Scholastic Award as having been seminal and essential to them.” 2016 National Student Poet Joey Reisberg, now a senior at the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology at Towson, Maryland, recited two of his poems, giving us perhaps a motive for the arts: “So much in this life is so unnoticeable– ” (from Lamedvovniks, The Thirty-Sixers).
Photo at the top: 2017 Scholastic winners cut the ribbon to officially open their exhibit.

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You can view additional photos from the event here. All photos are by U.S. Department of Education photographer Leslie Williams.
On Sept. 15, 2017, for the 14th year, the U.S. Department of Education opened the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards exhibit of works by students from across the country, with a special exhibition this year of winners from Harris County (Houston), Texas. Presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is the longest-running and most prestigious award program for adolescents from the U.S.. This year, 330,000 pieces of art and writing were submitted, and just 2,700 students were selected as national winners. Of these national winners, the Department has the honor of exhibiting 66 for the whole year, together with an additional 30 artists from Harris County, Texas, through Oct. 31, 2017.

Morgan Bassford is an intern from American University in the Office of Communications and Outreach at the U.S. Department of Education.

Following the ceremony, the Herb Block Foundation, which awards Scholastic winners for their editorial cartoons, held a workshop for the students.

“My [writing portfolio] was heavily influenced by my environment. It is about race, identity, and who you are and who you have become.” Zainab Adisa, Pittsburgh CAPA School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Evie Polen won a Gold Medal for her editorial cartoon, “A,” portraying the stress of high school.
2017 Scholastic winners in artwork and writing, with, in front row (l to r), Virginia McEnerney, Joey Reisberg, and Jason Botel.
“My [editorial cartoon “A”] was inspired from a prompt from a literary arts magazine looking for pieces about what holds people back. I thought about stress from pressures of homework, grades, college applications, and student life. ” Evie Polen, Gaston Day School, Gastonia, North Carolina

The parents noted that, without teachers, their children may not realize their abilities. Grace Sanders, artist of an untitled photograph, confessed that she didn’t think her photograph would win because, to her, she was just splattering paint on her face. But the photograph was submitted by her because her teacher saw something special in it. Grace’s mom said, “Grace likes to hide all her power and beauty in the dark” and that she was grateful this award gave her the confidence to talk about her work.
The national show will remain at the Department through July 2018, and the Harris County exhibit will remain through October 2017.

Franklin Nwora, Kipp Academy Middle School in Harris County, with his winning digital art piece, “Heaven’s Rain,” pictured on the right.
“My [drawing and illustration] is based on a Scottish proverb, “You can not keep the birds of sadness from flying over your head but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.” Allison Maeker, Klein Oak High School, Spring, Texas
“My friend had a hard childhood. As you move up, the piece starts to lighten. It is the representation that she could finally see her beauty.” Edward Bustos, Langham Creek High School, Houston, Texas

Chareese Ross is a student art exhibition program associate and editor in the Office of Communications and Outreach at the U.S. Department of Education.
The student writers and artists made clear that their teachers were instrumental in helping to define themselves as artists. Mt. Vernon (Virginia) High School‘s principal Dr. Anthony Terrell and art instructor Sally Gilliam, along with 25 current students, came to celebrate award recipient Jaron Owens. Gilliam shared that, once the award announcement was made, “[Jaron] jumped out of his chair and told me that he didn’t realize that he could be a serious artist. At that moment he realized that he did have artistic talent.” Terrell spoke of the effects of the event on the pupils from his school: “These students are now inspired to make more meaningful artwork because next year their work could be featured here.”

Published at Thu, 05 Oct 2017 19:49:56 +0000
The Department’s Student Art Exhibit Program provides teachers and students a chance to exhibit creative work in the classroom in a highly public area that honors their work as an effective path to knowledge and learning for all. To visit the displays or for information about exhibiting, contact Jackye Zimmermann at Jacquelyn.zimmermann@ed.gov or visit https://www.ed.gov/student-art-exhibit

We had the opportunity to talk at the shows, who shared these reflections about their functions with student award winners:

Source: TPd Paying for College Feed