Six students from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Visual Arts Department have been honored at the annual Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards, including one who earned a Gold Key, the highest honor.
“There are a ton of competitions out there, but this is the big one we focus on every year,” said Paul Brissette, chairman of the high school arts department. “For them to get recognition on this level is great.”
The Scholastic Arts Awards are open each year to students in grades seven through 12 enrolled in public, private and parochial schools throughout Massachusetts. Professional artists and designers from around the state judge entries in one of six categories: painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, printmaking and sculpture. They then award entrants with the Gold Key, Silver Key, or Honorable Mention. The panel this year saw 3,487 individual entries from 376 participating schools.
In December, Mr. Brissette gathered with the other three visual art teachers at the high school and began sorting through thousands and thousands of pieces of student artwork. The teachers are limited to 12 submissions. “It is no small accomplishment just to have the work sent up,” Mr. Brissette said.
This year, Joshua Paulson received a Gold Key for drawing, Christopher Ewing and Danielle Fogg received Silver Keys for photography and Amanda Brown, Jessica Cummens and Raymond Ewing all received Honorable Mentions for the categories of jewelry, drawing and photography respectively. Judges this year awarded 342 Gold Keys and 573 Silver Keys.
Winners were presented with their awards Monday at the John Hancock Hall in Boston. Gold Key winners will compete in New York city in May for the Gold and Silver awards.
Award-winning artwork will be on display in an exhibit at the Massachusetts State Transportation Building at 10 Park Plaza. The exhibit, free to the public, is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on weekends from noon to 5 p.m. through Feb. 22.
In addition to the six Vineyard students whose individual work was recognized, three seniors from the high school were honored with gold awards for their portfolios. They are Amelia Adler, Tyler Bilodeau and Micah Thanhauser. All gold winners move on to a national competition in New York city. Judges this year selected 192 portfolios out of 622 entries.
“It’s just great for them to get off-Island with their artwork,” said Mr. Brissette, who has been submitting student artwork to the awards for more than 30 years. “It’s difficult being on an Island. This let s them see where they stand in relation to everyone else out there in New England.”
In 1950, a group of art educators from around the state started the Boston Globe Scholastic Arts Awards. The program is an affiliate of the national Scholastic Art and Writing awards, which is administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers Inc.
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