(WILSON, N.C.) As host and regional sponsor for the 30th year, Barton College welcomes The National Scholastic Art Awards for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region. The featured speaker for the annual awards ceremony will be Barton alumnus Rod Morton, associate creative director for Publicis Modem.
The Scholastic Art Awards, Inc. conducts a visual art awards program for middle and high school students in the United States. Entries from all 50 states are submitted for competition in this nationally renowned program. The Scholastic Art Awards program 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 largest regional district in North Carolina, representing 62 counties from the piedmont to the coast.
Following an ice cream social for awardees and their families in Wilson Gymnasium on the Barton campus at 1:30 p.m., on Sunday, Jan. 20, there will be an awards presentation for the Gold Key Finalist recipients beginning at 2:00 p.m. The ceremony is open to student award recipients, their families, and N.C. arts teachers and principals. The Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition will be available for public viewing in the Barton Museum beginning Jan. 21.
Those providing additional support for the program include The Wilson Daily Times and the Visual Arts Department of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Contributors to the program include the Wilson Chamber of Commerce, Stan Corbett of Corbett Reproductions, and Framer’s Alley of Elm City, as well as the offices of Enrollment Management and Institutional Advancement at Barton.
Dr. Norval C. Kneten, president of Barton College, Morgan P. Dickerman, publisher of “The Wilson Daily Times,” the Honorable C. Bruce Rose, mayor of Wilson, 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. Mary Ann Barwick of Southern Wayne High School, chair of The Eastern/Central North Carolina Region of The Scholastic Art Awards Advisory Committee, will present the awards to the student recipients.
Morton, the keynote speaker, brings over 15 years of multidiscipline design to the table as he manages and directs the creative team servicing the interactive marketing and advertising needs of Heineken USA. A true “crossover creative,” Morton has developed and driven marketing concepts, offline and online, for high profile clients in technology, retail and professional sports. Morton studied commercial design and printmaking at Barton, graduating in 1987. Armed with a master’s degree in design from North Carolina State University’s School of Design, Morton has developed visual communication curricula at the college level as well as built and managed communication departments in corporate America. He founded an integrated marketing firm, Morton + Beck, focused on clients in the technology sector. He and his team created programs for heavyweights Cisco Systems and IBM, as well as burgeoning Internet technology startups Arris Interactive and Message Media. Morton also founded HOSS®, a creative company whose clients included The Home Depot, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, CNN, Dupont, and the US Open. Born and raised in North Carolina, Morton now lives in Fairfield, Conn., with his wife, Beck, and their son, Will.
The Scholastic Art Awards entries for the Eastern/Central North Carolina Region are received at Barton College during the first week of January. This year, approximately 1900 entries were presented for judging. Students, through their teachers, submitted artwork in a variety of categories including painting, drawing, mixes media, printmaking, sculpture, photography, computer graphics, video, film and animation, environments, graphics, products, ceramics, jewelry and metalsmithing, textile and fiber design, art portfolio, and photography portfolio. Jurors are charged to select entries that they deem especially worthy of recognition.
The Eastern/Central North Carolina Region has an advisory committee composed of eight art teachers. This year the exhibition selection jury was composed of teachers, gallery directors and professional artists.
Two hundred pieces have been selected as Gold Key Finalists for the exhibition. These finalists will be sent to New York City for judging against other regional winners for the national exhibition held in June at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C. Also sent to New York will be the works of five American Vision Award (Best of Show) nominees. There also were 200 Silver Key Awards chosen from the works submitted. These works are available for viewing on the web site’s online gallery at www.barton.edu.
From the Gold Key Finalist artworks, the jury also selects works for additional regional awards to be presented including The Barton College Award, The Wilson Daily Times Award, The North Carolina Art Education Association Award, Governor’s Student Achievement Award, The Emerging Vision Award, and The Edward C. Brown Award, which honors the long-time director of the Barton Scholastics Program.
The exhibition will run from Jan. 21 – Feb. 8 in the Barton Museum located in Case Art Building. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. The Barton Museum also will be open on Saturday, Jan. 26 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. for additional viewing opportunities. For additional information, please contact Mark Gordon, at 252-399-6474 or the Barton Museum at 252-399-6477.
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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.