Graphic by Evan Roffman
Tae Hong
Editor-in-Chief
The Newton Art Association Scholarship Awards have been awarded to Newton students for over 35 years. This year, a record of 33 students applied for the scholarships. The artists create work from many media such as ceramics, painting, and photography. This year 5 out of 6 recipients were Newton South students.
Three students win the named awards ($1200 each). Bryan Bailey won the Myra Abelson Award, Olivia Yohannan (Newton North) won the Edgerly Family Award, and Hayoon Byun won the NAA Scholar Award.
Three South students received honorable mentions ($600 each): Ryan Lee, Nora Jackson, and Sabrina Smith.
“It makes me proud when I see kids get excited about different prompts, technical exploration, make authentic connections, and be empowered in their own learning. I celebrate kids’ increased self awareness and growth. Exemplary outcome is always a bonus, but it is not necessarily the thing I am most proud of,” said Ms. Leary-Christ, the Director of the Fine and Performing Arts Department at South. “The arts are accessible to everyone, and [it makes me proud] when kids see that, however gold medals and awards are secondary to their inner growth.”
Although winning awards is a spectacular accomplishment, the true achievement is personal growth and finding enjoyment in art and life.
Artists are inspired in many different ways, from life experiences to artwork done by others.
“Most of the things I made were functional things I could use every day. Also because I like to look at interesting things, I tried different glazes to see which ones looked cool. I also like making drips,” said the winner of the Myra Abelson Award, senior Bryan Bailey. “At first, I felt like I didn’t really deserve [the award], but now, getting the supportive comments, I see that art is subjective. Even though my art might be simplistic to me there is still value in the art that I make,” he added.
“My art is inspired by the idea of obsession with perfection, like OCD, and the self sacrifice that comes with trying to achieve perfection, which is something that affects me and my life daily. [Making art] is a good outlet for me to get my feelings and emotions out in a healthy way,” Sabrina Smith said, who received an honorable mention.
“I have interests in social and human rights issues, so most of my artwork is based on social issues. Whenever I read news articles or listen to podcasts, I note that issue and decide to create art based on that topic,” said the winner of the NAA Scholar Award, senior Hayoon Byun.
“For my work that I submitted for the NAA, I based all of them off surrealism. I spent a lot of time looking at famous surrealists work, and liked the creepiness and fantasticalness of them. When I look at other people’s work I think how did they get that perspective? How did they get that color? How could I make something similar and put my own twist on this?” Said Nora Jackson, recipient of an honorable mention.
Ryan Lee, recipient of an honorable mention, said, “I’m inspired by trying to make things that other people can use by creating things that affect other people in a positive way.”
Today, many of these student artists’ works were on display at the art show at South.
Congratulations to everyone and their hard work!
