The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing outstanding visual art and writing created by teenagers to a national audience, has launched the 2009 Scholastic Art Awards and will be on exhibit at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, February 6-28, 2009. The Awards offer early recognition for creative teenagers and art scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors. An opening reception will be February 6, 2009 from 5-9pm in conjunction with the First Friday Trolley Hop. To keep true to the young artists theme, the musical trio Nora Ben & Eli will play live. The trio features teenage multi-instrumentalists Nora Grossman (16), Ben Scruton (16), and Eli Kleinsmith (16) who play an exciting and eclectic mix including jazz, Irish and Appalachian folk, old time music, and some original tunes. Their own unique arrangements incorporate a variety of instruments including fiddle, guitars, banjo, accordion, percussion, ukulele, and tinwhistle as well as vocals. (www.norabenandeli.com)
Approximately $3.25 million in art scholarships will be made available to select national award recipients, including 12 high school seniors who will be honored with the National Portfolio Gold Award and a $10,000 cash award.
The annual Awards competition began locally January 12th as students, grades 7-12, in the Louisville Metropolitan region submitted works of art in a wide array of categories, including painting, sculpture, apparel design, computer art and photography. The entries, submitted to the Jefferson County Public Schools Arts and Humanities Specialist, were evaluated by a panel of local jurors comprised of artists, educators and arts professionals. Entries were eligible from all public, private and parochial school in thirteen surrounding counties.
If a student receives a top Award (Gold Key) from the local Louisville Metropolitan Regional Art Awards, then he or she moves on to the national level. Five works are also honored with the American Visions Nominee award. These five artworks go on to compete with only the American Visions Nominees from all other regions. Each year, the
Last year 18 students from the Louisville Metropolitan region were awarded by the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. This year, 178 individual works of art and approximately 100 art and photography portfolios will go on to national adjudication.
Distinguished artists and writers who received an Art & Writing Award when they were in high school include Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Sue Miller, Richard Avedon, Philip Pearlstein, Zac Posen, Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Otterness, Robert Indiana, Sylvia Plath, John Lithgow, and Joyce Maynard. Since Scholastic founded the program in 1923, more than 13 million of
A regional Scholastic Art Awards ceremony and reception will be held at
