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- “Rabid” by Amalia Sweet won a Gold Key.
by Leah Budson
Twenty-four students from this school earned a Gold Key, Silver Key or Honorable Mention from the Boston Globe Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Schools throughout Massachusetts participate in this regional competition. The results were announced Wednesday.
Artwork which earned Gold Keys or Silver Keys will go on exhibit at the State Transportation Building from Monday, Feb. 13 through Friday, April 20, open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Art classes at this school will take a field trip to the exhibit Friday, Feb. 17. A ceremony to honor the winners will be held Sunday, March 11 at John Hancock Hall.
This year is the 20th anniversary of this school’s participation in the competition, since its founding in 1950.
“Sometimes we win a lot, sometimes not,” said art teacher Shannon Slattery. “Each year the judges change and more schools compete, which makes the competition tougher.”
According to Slattery, a committee of judges, comprised of volunteers, artists and retired art teachers, judge the pieces. Sandra Truant, who retired from teaching art at this school last June, was a judge this year. Work earning Gold Keys will advance to a national judging. The national winners’ pieces will go on exhibit in New York City, and an awards ceremony will be held at Carnegie Hall.
“The Globe Awards are the only local, large-scale art competition that this school participates in, though some kids also submit to individual contests,” said Slattery.
“Each art teacher can submit up to 20 individual pieces of student’s work and an unlimited number of portfolios,” Slattery explained. Students must be taking art, photography or ceramics classes to submit work.
Students submitted digital art, paintings, drawings, design pieces, ceramics and glaze, photographs, prints and sculpture.
Slattery said that although the opinions of the judges can be contradictory to what students learn in their curriculum, “It is nice for those who get accepted to have their work shown.”
Another benefit is that college scholarships are available to students who submit portfolios, said Slattery. Only seniors are allowed to submit portfolios, which are collections of artwork in any medium.
Seniors Evelyn Golden, Nellie Robinson and Emma Rosenfield and junior Amalia Sweet won Gold Keys.
Seniors Jenny Hamilton, Danielle Wasson and Ivan Wolyniec, junior Daniel Seaward and sophomore Emma Tavolieri all won Silver Keys.
Rosenfield said she “decided to submit work because it is a great way to get recognized for the time and effort put into my art.”
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- “Emma Lisa” by Emma Rosenfield shows an interpretation of the “Mona Lisa” background.
Her piece, titled “Emma Lisa,” is a self portrait. It depicts Rosenfield “surrounded by an interpretation of the background in ‘Mona Lisa,’” she said. She said she chose this piece, an oil painting, because it is the most advanced work that she has done.
Although Rosenfield described participating as “a great experience,” she said that “it is a little up in the air because art is so subjective, and you never know how someone will look at your work.”
Robinson, the only student who won two Gold Keys, was recognized for her painting “Breakdancing” and her art portfolio titled “Eavesdropping.”
Robinson’s portfolio of eight paintings “depicted students at this school socializing.”
Most of the students are only shown from the back, because I wanted to play around with the ideas of interaction and isolation,” Robinson said.
“I wanted to portray moments of everyday life from personal experience, because that’s the type of painting that draws me in.”
Robinson appreciates that the contest provides students with an outlet for art, “Rather than just producing artwork and then stuffing it in a drawer and forgetting about it, I can actually do something with it,” she said.
