UNCSA Visual Arts students win 35 Mid-Carolina Scholastic Art Awards

Eleven students in the high school Visual Arts Program at UNCSA have won 35 awards in the 2022 Mid-Carolina Scholastic Art Awards. The students collected 11 Gold Keys, 11 Silver Keys, and 13 Honorable Mentions.

The Mid-Carolina Scholastic Art Awards serve students and educators from 27 counties in central North Carolina and South Carolina. The awards are hosted by the College of Arts + Architecture at UNC Charlotte.

The gold and silver awards were presented virtually at the 2022 Gold and Silver Key Ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 12. In addition, the Gold and Silver Key Exhibition will be mounted at the Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, on view March 13-April 10, with a closing reception on Sunday, April 10, from 2-5 p.m. Gold Key winners advance to national adjudication. A gallery of select student work is below:

“Our Visual Arts Program typically produces numerous winners with multiple wins in this prestigious competition, and this year is no exception,” said Assistant Dean and Director of Visual Arts Will Taylor, who is a professor of drawing in the UNCSA School of Design and Production. “We have another great performance this year, which speaks highly of the quality and creativity of our students and our faculty.

“We are very proud of our winners, and all of the students in our program,” Taylor added.

In addition to Taylor, Visual Arts faculty include Elizabeth Alexander and Kaitlin Botts.

Students across America submitted nearly 340,000 original works last year. Submissions are evaluated in numerous categories, including design, digital art, mixed media, painting, sculpture, and ceramics and glass. The entries are classified according to media, then sorted by grade level. Panels of regional jurors, made up of museum curators, college and university professors, professional artists, and veteran K-12 art teachers, evaluate the work in a blind judging process.

The nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards were founded in 1923. Notable winners have included artist Andy Warhol, sculptor Luis Jiménez, photographer Richard Avedon, artist Kay WalkingStick, author Stephen King, and director Ken Burns.

Winners include:

Knox Barringer, Mount Pleasant, North Carolina:
Gold Key for Drawing & Illustration, “Psychological Portrait”

Ayla Bramblett, Pleasant Garden:
Gold Key for Film & Animation, “Clothes & Memories”

Bramblett also is an American Visions Nominee, which goes to the best work in the region. American Vision nominees are included in a national exhibit in New York City in June, where one will be awarded Best in Show.

Grace Chen, Charlotte:
Gold Key for Drawing & Illustration, “The World of Fairies and Everything Small”

Oliver Coria, Charlotte:
Silver Keys for Art Portfolio, “ID Identity”; Drawing & Illustration, “torn together”
Honorable Mention for Photography, “HELLOmynameis”

Kennedy Giovanelli, Huntersville:
Gold Keys for Comic Art, MA / Lqiudi YTE; Drawing & Illustration, “camille”; Mixed Media, “beetlebaby”
Honorable Mention for Art Portfolio, “ENCEPHALON”

Lillian Kline, Bakersville:
Silver Key for Mixed Media, “Please Remember”
Honorable Mention for Drawing & Illustration, “Torn”; Sculpture, “Conflicted”

Anna Kosinski, Chapel Hill:
Gold Keys for Painting, “62272”; Photography, “Fool’s Paradise”
Silver Keys for “My Queen”; Drawing & Illustration, “Kaleidoscope”; Photography, “Growing Pains”
Honorable Mentions for Drawing & Illustration, “Triple Vision”; Painting, “Womanhood/Of Me”; Painting, “What Now?”; Sculpture, “Sinking Feeling”

Haven Lee, Burnsville:
Silver Key for Digital Art, “Luck Isn’t Everything”
Honorable Mention for Drawing & Illustration, “Natural Aperture”

Mel Mandle, Asheville:
Gold Keys for Painting, “Overgrown”; Photography, “Lillian”
Silver Key for Drawing & Illustration, “Torn”
Honorable Mention for Drawing & Illustration, “Space Oddity”

Matty Richter, Salisbury:
Gold Key for Digital Art, “So Cold”
Silver Keys for Digital Art, “Reduced to Glass”; Drawing & Illustration, “Fabric, Fruit, and Fire”; Painting, “Scintillate”
Honorable Mention for Printmaking, “Tabby”

Destiny Turner, Charlotte:
Honorable Mention for Art Portfolio, “The Bible”; Sculpture, “Church People”

The UNCSA 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 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.

Visual Arts alumni have enjoyed successful careers in photography, graphic design, painting, animation, sculpture, installation art, makeup artistry and arts education.