Next generation of Warhols & Plaths On Display At WorldFinancialCenter

New Yorkers will be able to catch the next Andy Warhol or Sylvia Plath next month when Arts World Financial Center hosts a three-part tribute to current and past winners of The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

From June 9-25, the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Teen Exhibition will celebrate young talent with a three-part exhibition that features a broad selection of works by this year's Award winners, six site-specific works created by distinguished artists who won the Award when they were in high school, and a timeline and display of artifacts honoring the Awards' 87-year legacy.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, founded in 1923 and administered by the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, is the oldest and most prestigious recognition program for student achievement in the visual arts and creative writing in the United States. Arts World Financial Center is New York City's largest year-round showcase for free visual and performing arts.

The exhibition will comprise three elements in three different locations in the World Financial Center:

· The Courtyard Gallery will be transformed into a creative cornucopia, showcasing a wide-ranging selection of works by this year's national winners including film, video, animation, writing, photography, videogames, painting, sculpture, fashion, drawing, graphic design, and ceramics.

· Six past winners who are now accomplished artists will create original site-specific works for the exhibition elaborating on the theme of "The Gold Key," an image that has long represented the Award's potential to unlock the door to a young talent's creative future. The six artists, whose contributions will be displayed in vitrines throughout the World Financial Center, include Tom Otterness (www.tomostudio.com/), Rodney Alan Greenblatt (http://www.whimsyload.com/), Nicole Tschampel (http://www.nicoletschampel.com/), Mara Sprafkin (http://www.marasprafkin.com/), Carol Padberg (http://carolpadberg.com/home.html), and Gary Panter (http://www.garypanter.com/site/).

· The Awards' legacy will be honored with a storefront installation at the World Financial Center Winter Garden, featuring a timeline of past winners including Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Richard Avedon, Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, and Joyce Carol Oates. Their achievements will be illustrated with artifacts such as books, original artworks, reproductions, portraits, and catalogues. See below for a complete list of past winners in the exhibit.

"For 87 years, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have provided early recognition and support for teenagers who have gone on to become some of this country's most important artists," said Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the nonprofit organization that presents the Awards. "This exhibition not only offers a first glimpse of America's next generation of artists and writers, but it also gives the winners themselves a close-up look at the future creative careers awaiting them."

"We strive to offer our audience a lively mix of established and emerging artists, and this exhibit perfectly captures both ends of that spectrum," said Debra Simon, Artistic Director of Arts World Financial Center. "It's a tribute to the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards that so many of the past winners in this exhibit are part of the nation's cultural canon, and it's exciting to be exhibiting the work of tomorrow's creative trailblazers."

An online gallery of the 2010 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards winners' work can be viewed here.
The honorees include hundreds of students in grades 7-12, representing nearly every state in the country. Fifteen high school seniors, recognized for a body of work, will also receive the $10,000 Portfolio Gold Award, the highest level of achievement, and will be honored with the other national winners at a special ceremony at New York's Carnegie Hall in June.

The Awards are presented by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, which receives tens of thousands of submissions each year at the national level. Winners are chosen by a panel of renowned artists, authors, educators, and arts professionals. This year's jurors included Lesley Stahl, John Leland, Peggy Noonan, Jill Sobule, Davy Rothbart, Paula Poundstone, and Dr. Alfred Tatum.

The work of the Alliance is made possible through the support of Scholastic Inc., the Title Sponsor; The New York Times; Command Web Offset Co.; Ovation; The Maurice R. Robinson Fund; Jack Kent Cooke Foundation; AMD Foundation; and Amazon.com.

PAST WINNERS IN EXHIBIT

ART:
Philip Pearlstein
Tom Otterness
Kay WalkingStick
Rodney Alan Greenblatt
Mara Sprafkin
Dawn Okoro
Joyce Lee
Nicole Tschampel
Arnold Hurley
Carol Padberg
Wheeler Kincaid
Steve Diamond
Richard Avedon
Gary Panter

WRITING:
Carolyn Forche
Ned Vizzini
Wendy Richmond
Peter Beagle
Bernard Malamud
Sylvia Plath
Truman Capote
Sue Miller
Joyce Maynard
Joyce Carol Oates
Robert McCloskey

About Arts World Financial Center
Now in its 22nd season, Arts World Financial Center is the East Coast's largest presenter of free, year-round performing and visual arts. Other spring season highlights include Wisdom, a photo exhibit of iconic figures over 65; Weather Beacon, a kinetic multi-media sculpture; and the annual Bang on a Can Marathon, hailed as "the country's most provocative and consistently entertaining new-music event" by the Village Voice. A leading showcase for visual and performing arts, the artistic process is made accessible in a free, open and interactive manner to workers, residents and the broader public of cultural consumers.

About the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization, identifies teenagers with exceptional artistic and literary talent and brings their remarkable work to a national audience through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

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