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By Lisa Moore
Hometown Weekly Correspondent
The School of Museum of Fine Arts hosted an award ceremony on Saturday, March 12 honoring Massachusetts artists from 351 towns across the state in grades 7-12. The SMFA is one of over 100 affiliates across the United States that run the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in their local communities.
“Fostering the minds and creative spirit of artists has always been the mission of the School,” says SMFA President Christopher Bratton. “SMFA is deeply honored to recognize the remarkable talents of artists across Massachusetts through the Boston Globe Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.”
Students are judged in 29 categories of visual and literary arts including photography, fashion, poetry, science fiction writing, graphic design and video game design. This year’s honorees join the ranks of previous winners, including such famous artists like Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, John Updike and Stephen King.
This year nearly 320,000 works of art and writing were submitted to affiliates across the country, with 17,500 entries submitted across Massachusetts and nearly 4,000 young Bay State artists earning distinction for the work they submitted. This year Wellesley Middle School, Wellesley High and Dana Hall School all had a number of students who won Gold and Silver Key awards and honorable mention awards.
The artists winning Gold Key honor, the highest award, have their work on display at a special exhibition hosted by EF Education First at its office in Cambridge from March 5-20. Walking through the exhibit, seeing the incredible diversity and exceptional craftsmanship of the winning pieces, it is easy to forget the artists are students in grades 7-12.
Mia Moore, an eighth grade student at Wellesley Middle School, was one of the Gold Key recipients for her photograph entitled “The Forgotten.”
When asked how she created her hauntingly beautiful piece she said, “I used a long shutter speed to make multiple exposures and used techniques of burning and dodging to create darker and lighter areas during the finishing process in the darkroom.”
As a first year photography student Mia was a bit surprised to have won. “I am honored that I got chosen for a Gold Key award and that I got to experience something like this.”
All Gold Key winners have had their work entered in the national competition, which will announce winners on March 14 at www.artandwriting.org.
For a complete list of winners, visit www.smfa.edu/scholastic-awards-2016.html.
Lisa Moore is a Correspondent for Hometown Weekly. She can be reached at news@hometownweekly.net.
