UNCSA Visual Artists win Scholastic Art Awards

Students in the high school Visual Arts Program at UNCSA earned 11 awards at the 2018 Scholastic Art Awards, including seven gold keys, two silver keys and two honorable mentions.

Awards were presented Jan. 10 at Barton College in Wilson, N.C., where the gold and silver key artworks will be exhibited Jan. 28 to Feb. 22. Barton College annually hosts the Eastern/Central Regional District in North Carolina, representing 62 counties from the Piedmont to the coast.

“Our students continue to excel in the Scholastic Arts competition year after year, a testament to their hard work and commitment to their craft,” said Will Taylor, director of the VA Program, part of the School of Design and Production. “Our region is highly competitive, and we congratulate our winners.”

Winners were selected from more than 3,000 entries in categories including architecture, comic art, ceramics & glass, digital art, product design, drawing, fashion, film & animation, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and video games.

UNCSA students who won awards include:

Bella Bergam of Asheville, a gold key;

Rachel Cavell of Gastonia, a gold key and an honorable mention;

Tess Crabtree of Hickory, a gold key;

Zane Drees of Greensboro, a gold key;

Eleni Econopouly of Carrboro, an honorable mention;

Tamera Lepore of Hubert, a gold key;

Aiden Powers of Vilas, a gold key and a silver key;

Meghan Wassil of Apex, a gold key;

Angela Zheng of Charlotte, a sliver key.

Created for middle and high school students, the Scholastic Arts program is designed to encourage student achievement, to recognize and applaud art teachers and to emphasize the importance of the visual arts in the school curriculum.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the nation’s most prestigious recognition program for artists and writers, which identified the early promise of Richard Avedon, Joyce Maynard, Tom Otterness, Philip Pearlstein, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Warhol and Zac Posen.

UNCSA’s Visual Arts Program enrolls high school juniors and seniors who commit to a rigorous course of study in design, drawing, sculpture and art history.

Graduates of the Visual Arts Program have continued to pursue their interest in the fine arts at universities such as Virginia Commonwealth, Kansas City Art Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, School of Art Institute of Chicago, Ringling College of Art and Design, School of the Museum of Fine Art - Boston and College for Creative Studies.

Alumni have enjoyed successful careers in photography, graphic design, painting, animation, sculpture, installation art, makeup artistry and arts education. World-renowned photographer, documentary filmmaker, and director David LaChapelle, an alumnus of the Visual Arts Program, was the speaker for UNCSA’s high school commencement in 2015.

by Lauren Whitaker