Featured image for post: Barton Hosts the 2017 Scholastic Art Awards for Eastern/Central N.C. Region

Barton Hosts the 2017 Scholastic Art Awards for Eastern/Central N.C. Region

Brynn Carrick was awarded a gold key and the Edward C. Brown Award for the artwork titled Majestic Peacock, pictured above. Carrick’s art teacher at Topsail High School in Hampstead is Matt Rogers.

WILSON, N.C. — January 17, 2017 — Barton College will welcome students from across the state to celebrate their creativity at the annual Scholastic Art Awards ceremony scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 29, at 1:30 p.m. in Wilson Gymnasium. This marks the 39th 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 Endia Beal, director of Diggs Gallery and assistant professor of art at Winston-Salem State 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 Feb. 1.

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 art 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. Stephanie Soper 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 are reviewed by professional art jurors at Barton College during the first week of January. This year, there were 3,445 entries and an additional 98 portfolios from approximately 131 schools presented for judging. 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 was composed of college professors, retired public school art teachers, and professional artists.

Two hundred and seventy artworks were selected as Gold Key awards, as well a 11 Gold Key portfolios. Images of these finalist art works will be sent to New York City for judging against other regional winners for the national exhibition held in June at Parsons School of Design and the Pratt Institute.

There were 184 Silver Key Awards and 14 Silver Key portfolios chosen. These artworks will be displayed at the Barton Galleries.

Three hundred and eighteen Honorable Mention Awards were chosen. They are listed at www.barton.edu/scholastics.

From the Gold Key artworks, the jury also selected works for additional awards to be presented at the ceremony including five American Visions Nominees: Joseph Campbell of Durham School of the Arts; Julia Parks of Green Hope High School; Karina McMillan of Lumberton Senior High School; Abigail Dyer of Southern Alamance High School; and Tess Sichitui of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Special regional awards include the Edward C. Brown Award to Brynn Carrick of Topsail High School; The Wilson Times Award to Subin Hwang of Green Hope High School; the North Carolina Art Education Association Award to Amy Metzinger of Cardinal Gibbons High School; the Jurors’ Choice Portfolio Award to Tessa Sichitiu of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts; The Emerging Visions Award to Caroline Davis of St. Timothy’s School; The Governor’s Student Excellence Award to Tessa Bennett of R.J. Reynolds High School; and the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park Recycled Materials Award to Kendal Backus of Durham School of the Arts.

The exhibition of Gold Key and Silver Key artworks will run from Jan. 29 – Feb. 24 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 Mark Gordon at mgordon@barton.edu or call 252-399-6559.

About the Speaker — 

Beal is a North Carolina based artist, educator and activist, who is internationally known for her photographic narratives and video testimonies that examine the personal, yet contemporary stories of women of color working within the corporate space.

As a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008, Beal earned a dual Bachelor’s degree in Art History and Studio Art. During her undergraduate studies, she attended the Studio Art Center International in Florence, Italy, focusing on High Renaissance Art History and the romance languages of the Italian culture.

Following graduation, Beal was one of four women nationally selected to participate in ArtTable, a program designed to promote women of color in the visual arts. Representing the Washington, D.C. district, she assisted in the curation of the Andy Warhol Exhibit at the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery of George Washington University. Beal used this experience as a platform to advocate for people of color within the arts. She was instrumental in creating marketing campaigns that redefined the way communities interact with art. Her work experience includes the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology, and “The New York Times Magazine.”

In 2013, Beal graduated from Yale School of Art, with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography. While attending Yale, she created a body of work that explores the relationship of minority women within the corporate space. Her work was fully developed during the artist-in-residence program at the Center for Photography at Woodstock. Beal aligns herself with artists such as Latoya Ruby Frazier and Dr. Deborah Willis, who use photography as a vehicle to question conformity and gender norms.

Beal is featured in several online editorials including “The New York Times,” “Time Magazine’s” Lightbox, NBC, BET, “The Huffington Post,” “Slate,” and “National Geographic.” She also appeared in “Essence,” “Marie Claire Magazine,” and “Newsweek Japan.” Beal is the recipient of the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund Grant and was a finalist for the Julia Margaret Cameron Award in Berlin, Germany. Her work was exhibited in several institutions, including the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit, Michigan, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Art + Culture based in Charlotte, the Aperture Foundation of New York, and the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.

Beal currently serves on the National Advisory Board for Reynolda House Museum of American Art, the Public Art Committee for Piedmont International Airport, and Art Nouveau of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem.

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