Harrison Burt
Reporter
For the second year in a row, art students here have returned from the Connecticut Scholastic Arts Awards in Hartford with success. Junior Isabel Glatthorn won a Gold Key Award in the Ceramics category, and seniors Joao Vickttor DeCarvalho, Henry Eschricht, and Zach Zannini won Gold Key awards for their Photography Portfolio category. Henry and Zach also won scholarships to the Hartford Art School. In addition, junior Christian Atherton received an Honorable Mention in the Photography category.
More than 30 artists, professors, and university faculty gathered to analyze and select the greatest pieces from the numerous media categories. Over 140 Connecticut schools participated this year, with 663 of the 1,700 entries being displayed. From that number, there were 212 Gold Key Awards, 155 Silver Key Awards and 296 Honorable Mentions.
The Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards is an associate of the National Scholastic Art Awards as well as The Alliance For Young Artists and Writers. The national program was created in 1927 to revere the efforts of 7th through 12th grade students in public, private, and parochial schools.
This year’s theme, “Celebrating the Creative Spirit of Connecticut Youth,” focused on the promotion and recognition of students. Artwork that received Gold, Silver or Honorable Mention awards were exhibited in the Silpe Gallery of the University of Hartford.
“[Photography teacher Jeanne] McDonagh told me about the competition, told our class about the competition, leading a couple of us to make a portfolio with her assistance and submit it to the Scholastic Art Awards,” Joao said.
“Our students have consistently scored high with the Scholastic Art Awards, which is a testament to not only the talent of our students, but also the dedication and enthusiasm of our teaching staff,” Visual and Performing Art Director Alan Seath said.
All visual art teachers here were represented by their students this year at the awards. Isabel is a student of ceramics teacher Lisa Floryshak-Windman; Christian is a student of film teacher Peter Kingsbury; and Joao, Henry, and Zach, are all students of Ms. McDonagh.
“I submitted this work because it is my favorite style of photography. Trying to capture the human element in a photo… a moment in time, a feeling, expression or an atmosphere that controls a scene and how I react to that moment,” Henry said.
Earlier this month, a national judging panel reviewed the Gold Key winning art. Selected winners will attend a ceremony at Carnegie Hall and their artwork will be exhibited in New York City throughout the month of June.
