National Medals Go to Six Artists from Southwestern Virginia Region!
The Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley, an affiliate of Scholastic’s Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, is pleased to announce that two of our American Visions winners and four Gold Key winners have received National recognition from the Scholastic Artist & Writing Awards competition this year. The following medalists were announced by Scholastic on March 17, 2021. To help us appreciate the achievement that this represents for our young artists, here is what Scholastic says about the selection process:
“Students’ entries are blindly adjudicated by some of the foremost leaders in the visual and literary arts. Many Scholastic Awards alumni have lent their expertise as jurors, including Michael Bierut, Philip Pearlstein, Edward Sorel, Red Grooms, and Gary Panter. Other luminaries who have served as judges include Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Judy Blume, Billy Collins, Paul Giamatti, Francine Prose, Edwidge Danticat, David Sedaris, Lesley Stahl, Nikki Giovanni, Roz Chast, Wangechi Mutu, Andres Serrano, Kiki Smith, Jill Kraus, Shinique Smith, Rashid Johnson, and Waris Ahluwalia. Jurors look for works that exemplify the Awards’ core values: originality, technical skill, and the emergence of personal voice or vision.”
We present our National Medalists
AMERICAN VISIONS MEDAL & GOLD MEDAL - “Lamb Chop” by Allison Pully - Lord Botetourt High School; Ingrid Chase, Teacher
GOLD MEDAL - “Early Mornings” by Karen Villaneueva - Blacksburg High School; Katy Dryman, Teacher
SILVER MEDAL - “Pieces of Me” by Urunna Anyanwu - Burton Center for Arts & Tech; Natalie Strum, Teacher
SILVER MEDAL - “Queen Elizardbeth” by Andrea Gonzalez - Burton Center for Arts & Tech; Natalie Strum, Teacher
SILVER MEDAL - “Pollo Loco” by Halle Reese - Lord Botetourt High School; Ingrid Chase, Teacher
SILVER MEDAL - “The Will O’ Wisp” by Lucy Burnett - Community High School of Arts & Academics; Patti Kapral, Teacher
Scholastic Art Awards at the Regional Level
Awards for the Southwest Virginia Region
The Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley is once again proud to be the official affiliate for the Scholastic Art Awards for the Southwest Virginia Region and to announce the winners for 2021. We are all aware of the challenges educators, students and their families have faced this past year just trying to continue some semblance of schooling. Despite these difficulties, students across the region overcame these challenges and again submitted a tremendous body of work across a variety of media. This is a testament to those students, their teachers, and their families who, despite adversity, continued to create and explore their talents. We are so pleased to share these galleries of award winners, but honestly, every child who continues to make art, and every teacher who guides them, and every family member who nurtures young artists, whether that art is shared with us or not, is a winner. Keep making art.
