Artbeat Gallery to host Scholastic Gold Exhibit
WAYNESBURG – If you would like to discover some of the region’s best art and writing by area high and middle school students, stop in at the Artbeat Gallery, located at 52 E. High Street in Waynesburg on Friday, Feb. 20.
Starting with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m., the gallery is hosting the 2015 Scholastic Gold Exhibit, an exhibit of over 40 works of art by the Gold Key recipients of this year’s Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
In addition to being able to talk to many of the award-winning students from Greene, Fayette and Washington counties, patrons will also be able to hear the Gold Key literary winners reciting excepts from their works beginning at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the event is free and refreshments will be served. For those unable to attend this evening’s opener, the exhibit will be up through March 13.
“This year, students in our region submitted 604 pieces of writing and art, a new record,” said Janice Hatfield, founder and co-director of the program from Mt. Morris.
From the pool of art submissions, panels of jurors selected 41 Gold Keys, 37 Silver Keys, and 50 Merit Awards. They also awarded three Gold Keys, 22 Silver Keys and 42 Merit Awards to the writers.
Greene County Gold Key Awards went to Jeffrey Pratt (Mixed Media), Journie Crutchman (Drawing) and Timothy Sheldon (Mixed Media), all from Carmichaels Area High School.
On Feb. 8, the outstanding artists and writers from the area were honored at a special awards presentation ceremony held at Steele Auditorium on the campus of California University of Pennsylvania. Prior to the ceremony, the art works had been displayed in a gallery located in the university’s Mandarino Library. Excerpts of the students’ literary works were also enlarged and mounted alongside the art work in the gallery.
“For our award presentation ceremony each year, we invite an award-winning alumnus to deliver a keynote speech,” Hatfield said. “This year’s keynote speaker was Jessica Zamboky Lamb, a librarian at the Bridgeville Public Library.”
Nationally, the Scholastic Awards have encouraged young writers and artists since the program was launched in Pittsburgh in 1923. This year, more than 250,000 entries from across the nation have been submitted.
Over the years, the awards have grown to become the longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in the U.S. and the nation’s largest source of scholarships for creative young artists and writers.
A noteworthy roster of past winners includes Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Robert Redford, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, John Updike and many more.
Hatfield, who taught English, journalism and creative writing in the West Greene school district for 22 years before her retirement in 2004, attended the first meeting of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards of Southwestern Pennsylvania when it was first established on Feb. 28, 2002 at Waynesburg University.
For the first seven years, the program and awards presentation ceremony were held at the university until the venue moved to California University of Pennsylvania in 2009.
Each June, national Gold Key Award winners from across the country are invited to New York City for the national competition. There, they are honored at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall.
Locally, the students are asked to submit entries into the competition by mid-January. Arts categories include painting and drawing, photography, jewelry, ceramics, fashion, print making, mixed media, glass, sculpture and video.
Each category is judged by a panel of at least three judges. Writers can submit literary works in categories such as poems, journalism, narrative stories, drama, sci-fi and more.
“The judging is done blind, meaning the jurors don’t know the artist/writers’ names or the schools they attend,” Hatfield said. “The jurors judge the writing submissions online, then meet to discuss their choices and come to a final agreement on who will get the Gold, Silver and Merit Awards.”
This evening, all the Gold Key artists and writers have been invited to attend the exhibit opener at the Artbeat Gallery.
To accommodate the art works, Artbeat Gallery owners Jim and Linda Winegar have removed some of the gallery’s own artwork to make room for the students’ submissions in the middle of the gallery space.
The writers will also be given a space to stand to recite excerpts from their works.
“Last year, we had a very positive response from the patrons about the readings, which were both heart-felt and inspirational,” Linda Winegar said.
Expected to attend this evening’s opening reception is Lyssa Current, 18, a senior at Charleroi Area High School, who won four Gold Key Awards and one Silver Key Award this year for her portfolio of fashion designs. Two of the Gold Keys were also American Vision Awards, given to those who won a Gold Key. Only five American Vision Awards are given to any one region.
Lyssa began creating her fashion portfolio of eight pieces December of 2013, all of which will be featured in the Artbeat show. Each of the pieces is made up of toys taken from her childhood. “Cuddly Coat,” for instance, is created entirely out of stuffed animals; “Tu Tu Train” is a ballerina-type garment with a toy train that runs around it.
“I always loved the idea of putting art on clothing,” Lyssa said. “I like to say (of my portfolio) that I’ve taken the inner child and turned it into the outer child.”
In the fall, Lyssa plans to study a double major curriculum of fine art and art history at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia.
“I love the support the Scholastic Awards Program gave me and also appreciate the encouragement the art department at Charleroi High School has provided,” she said.
In the award presentation program booklet, Hatfield wrote, “Congratulations to all the winners! To the students whose work has earned a Gold Key or whose work has been nominated for an American Vision or American Voice Award, we wish you success in the national judging in New York City. There, a panel of distinguished artists, writers, educators and other art and writing professionals will judge your work alongside the award-winning work from 90 other regions representing all parts of the country from Alaska to Florida to New England. Good luck!”
Hatfield said national adjudication is now underway, and the national winners will be announced on March 15.
“We want to congratulate the parents and families of these talented young artists and writers,” Hatfield said. “(They) must be so proud of (their) sons and daughters.”
For more information on the exhibit at Artbeat, call the gallery at 724-833-9058.