Cranston artists bring home dozens of awards

By JEN COWART
Posted 1/22/20

By JEN COWART Special to the Herald At Sunday afternoon's Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony and art gallery opening, three-dozen awards were given to Cranston Public Schools art students. The 36 awards included Gold Key, Silver Key and Honorable

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Cranston artists bring home dozens of awards

Posted

Special to the Herald

At Sunday afternoon’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony and art gallery opening, three-dozen awards were given to Cranston Public Schools art students.

The 36 awards included Gold Key, Silver Key and Honorable Mention honors recognizing the talents of art students at Cranston High School East, Cranston High School West, the NEL/CPS Construction Career Academy, Park View Middle School and Western Hills Middle School. Four of the awards were Gold Key awards.

The event was held at Rhode Island College’s Roberts Hall Auditorium and was followed by an art gallery opening and exhibition in the Chazen Family Gallery Alex & Ani Hall. The exhibit spans two entire floors of the gallery and will remain on display until Feb. 2.

RI Art Education Association President Michelle Turner noted that 900 entries were submitted for this year’s competition and that all Gold Key award designees are submitted to New York City for additional adjudication at the national level. She also thanked all of the volunteers who stepped up to help bring the event to life this year, as initially there had been no willing volunteers. She encouraged others to get involved next year as well, in order to keep the event alive for the student artists.

Turner welcomed several guest speakers, including RIC Dean of Education Jeannine Dingus-Eason and Provost Dr. Susan Pearlmutter, who recognized the students, their families and their teachers and welcomed them to the event. Pearlmutter encouraged the students to consider pursuing their future art education at RIC.

Dingus-Eason congratulated all of the artists for their hard work and asked each to stand in the audience with their families for each category in which they were being recognized. Categories were varied and included drawing and illustration, painting, printmaking, fashion, photography, mixed media, ceramics and many others.

“You have a gift of making people stop and take notice of beauty in the world and the way you have used all of your five senses to notice the beauty in the world,” she said.

RIC assistant professor Rebecca Shipe also took to the podium and acknowledged the artists and their support systems both at home and at school. She thanked RIC for their support of the event as well as RIAEA for voluntarily gathering educators statewide to support art education. Also in attendance, Paula Andrews of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Rhode Island presented several scholarship awards to artists in the audience.

The keynote speaker for the ceremony, Amy Leidtke, an industrial designer, artist, author of “Leonardo’s Art Workshop” and RISD educator, spoke passionately about art and the impact it has had on her own life, starting from the early age of 7. She also emphasized the important role that her own mother played in supporting her desire to experience art as a young student as well as the later opportunity a high school art teacher provided to her by allowing her to enter the Scholastic Art competition as a senior. She cited teachers as her personal heroes for their part in helping art students to find and develop personal voice and vision in their artwork.

“That opportunity launched me as an art student into art school,” she said. “Parents and teachers who make art school and art enrichment available to students are invaluable. Art education matters.”

She cited a list of many essential skills that students hone through their art and design, which included things like communication, resilience, problem solving and empathy. She noted that artists are innovative thinkers who are simultaneously both analytic and intuitive, and the creative confidence to put themselves out there using a language universally understood without using words.

Leidtke left the artists with some advice, taken from her own experience as an artist.

“Take yourself seriously, be curious, make connections to all things in the world,” she said. “Keep a notebook with your written observations and visual drawings.”

The following students from Cranston East received awards: Enid Corcoran, Gold Key, Silver Key; Mathilda Corcoran, Honorable Mention; Indiamei Coren-Gold, Honorable Mention; Christy Mak, Silver Key; Nicoletta Parente, Honorable Mention; Jacob Parenteau, Gold Key; Tristan Parenteau, Honorable Mention, Silver Key; Maria Silva, Honorable Mention; Tiana Smith, Silver Key; Eric Mateo, Gold Key; and Xaviar Pichardo, Honorable Mention.

The following students from Cranston West received awards: Milana Am, Honorable Mention; Ava Caliri, Honorable Mention; Ydalia Cerezo, Honorable Mention; Briana Cipolla, Silver Key; Isabella Corso, Silver Key; Elizabeth Cowart, Honorable Mention, Honorable Mention; Alexa Lombardi, Honorable Mention, Honorable Mention; Christian Lopez, Silver Key; Brody McMahon, Silver Key; Danielle Nield, Honorable Mention; Rachael Perrotta, Honorable Mention, Silver Key; Ella Rose, Silver Key; Sophia Saccoccio, Honorable Mention; and Marissa Such, Honorable Mention.

The following students from the NEL/CPS Construction Career Academy received awards: Eric Mateo, Gold Key; and Xavier Pichardo, Honorable Mention.

The following students from Park View Middle School received awards: Ryan Chan, Honorable Mention; Emily McGuire, Gold Key; and Chantal Perez, Honorable Mention.

The following students from Western Hills Middle School received awards: Tatiana DiCecco, Silver Key; and Diana Do, Honorable Mention.

Jen Cowart is a communications specialist for Cranston Public Schools.

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