Photo of Claire Friesen’s “Still Life of an Apple.” She is a Gold Key recipient and an American Visions nominee.
WILSON, N.C. — January 15, 2019 — Barton College will welcome students from across the state to celebrate their creativity at the annual Scholastic Art Awards ceremony scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 10, at 1:30 p.m. in Wilson Gymnasium. This marks the 41st year that Barton College has served as host and regional sponsor for the National Scholastic Art Awards for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region. The featured speaker for the awards ceremony is Daniel Kariko, associate professor of fine art photography in the School of Art and Design at East Carolina University.
Following a reception for Gold Key and Silver Key awardees and their families in Wilson Gymnasium, there will be an awards presentation for the award recipients beginning at 2 p.m. The ceremony is open to student Gold Key and Silver Key recipients, their families, and North Carolina arts teachers and principals. The Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition will be available for public viewing in the Barton Art Galleries beginning February 10.
Entries from all 50 states are submitted in the nationally renowned Scholastic Art Awards program. The program, created for middle and high school students, is designed to encourage student achievement, to recognize and applaud our fine arts teachers and to emphasize the importance of the visual arts in the school curriculum. Barton College is proud to host the Eastern/Central Regional District in North Carolina, representing 62 counties from the Piedmont to the Coast.
Dr. Gary Daynes, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Barton College, and Mark F. Gordon, director of the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region of the Scholastic Art Awards Program, will bring brief remarks during the program. Debra Pylypiw of the Scholastic Art Awards Regional Teacher Advisory Committee will present special awards to student recipients.
The Scholastic Art Awards entries for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region were reviewed by professional art jurors at Barton College during the second week of January. This year, more than 3,000 entries were received. Students submitted artwork in a variety of categories, including: architecture, comic art, ceramics & glass, digital art, product design, drawing, fashion, film & animation, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video games, and art portfolio. Jurors are charged to select entries that they consider especially worthy of recognition.
The Eastern/Central North Carolina Region has an advisory committee composed of nine art teachers. This year, the exhibition selection jury is composed of arts professionals. In addition to Gold Key and Silver Key portfolios, there will be a significant number of Gold Key and Silver Key awards presented. These artworks will be displayed in the Barton Art Galleries.
Images of these finalist art works are sent to New York City for judging on the national level. Selected national works are invited for June exhibitions held at Parsons School of Design and the Pratt Institute. Honorable Mention Awards will also be chosen and listed at www.barton.edu/scholastics.
From the Gold Key artworks, the jury selected works for additional awards to be presented at the ceremony including five American Visions Nominees, as well as special regional awards including the Edward C. Brown Award, The Wilson Times Award, the North Carolina Art Education Association Award, the Jurors’ Choice Portfolio Award, the Emerging Visions Award, the Governor’s Student Excellence Award, and the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park Recycled Materials Award.
The 2019 American Visions nominees include Sarah Gerics from William G. Enloe High School, Claire Friesen from Trinity School, Victoria Ding from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Tamara Lepore from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Betsy Molina from West Carteret High School. Isabella Dalessio-Skare from Cardinal Gibbons High School is the recipient of the Edward C. Brown Sculpture Award. Yihui Li from Greensboro Day School is the recipient of the North Carolina Art Education Association Award. Tamara Lepore from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the recipient of The Wilson Times Award. Amira Oguntoyinbo from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the recipient of the Jurors’ Choice Portfolio Award. Carter Andersen from Hanes Magnet School is the recipient of the Emerging Visions Award. Andria Shafer from Durham Academy Upper School is the recipient of the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park Recycled Materials Award.
The exhibition of Gold Key and Silver Key artworks will run from Feb. 10 – Feb. 22 in the Barton Art Galleries located in Case Art Building. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. and by special appointment. For additional information, please contact Bonnie LoSchiavo at blloschiavo@barton.edu or call 252-399-6559.
About the Speaker — Daniel Kariko is a North Carolina based artist and currently serves as associate professor of fine art photography in School of Art and Design at East Carolina University.
Kariko’s images investigate environmental and political aspects of landscape, land use, and cultural interpretation of inhabited space. Inspired by his childhood during the civil war in the Balkans, his work is informed by interest in history and science, geopolitics, and the changing and disappearing landscape. He worked on several long-term photographic projects in his native Serbia, recording the aftermath of war. Since 1999, Kariko has documented the endangered wetlands and dramatic changes in the landscape in the Barataria-Terrebonne region of South Louisiana. Other projects include documentation of foreclosed housing in Florida during the 2008-09 real estate crisis and scanning electron microscope portraits of locally found insects.
Kariko’s work has been shown nationally and internationally in galleries, museums, and festivals, including: Noorderlicht Photofestival, Groeningen, The Netherlands; Yixian International Photography Festival, Huangshan City, China; Manchester Science Festival, United Kingdom; Rewak Gallery, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Edinburgh International Science Festival, United Kingdom; Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia; Rijeka Foto Festival, Croatia; Fries Museum, The Netherlands; Festival della Scienza di Verona, Italy; Photon Gallery, Vienna, Austria; Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom; ArtCell Gallery, Cambridge, United Kingdom; and Galata Museo del Mare, Genova, Italy; Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Fla.; and the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, Albuquerque, N.M.
His work has been featured in a number of online and printed publications, including “Nature,” “Art Papers,” “CNN Photos,” “National Geographic Proof,” “PetaPixel,” “Wired,” “Design Observer,” and “Discover Magazine.”
Kariko received a Bachelor of Arts degree at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Arts with a concentration in Photography from Arizona State University in Tempe.
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