More than 280 creative teens across Northern Nevada, including a student from Truckee, will soon be awarded for their original artwork submitted to this year’s Scholastic Art Awards. A panel of local judges sorted through more than 1,200 works submitted in 17 categories for the Northern Nevada visual arts component of the 2021 Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards, overseen by the Nevada Museum of Art. Winners and scholarship recipients will be honored with a virtual ceremony, premiering live on the Nevada Museum of Art Facebook page at YouTube channels at 6 pm this Friday, Feb. 19.

Exhibitions of the American Visions Nominees and Gold Key winning works are on view through March 5 at the Nevada Museum of Art and Sheppard Contemporary at the University of Nevada, Reno, respectively.

Judges deliberated over which submissions would receive awards based on originality, technical skills and the emergence of a personal vision. From the submissions chosen to receive awards, five works were nominated for the American Visions Award, the highest regional honor. Judges selected 125 individual pieces and seven portfolios to receive Gold Key awards. American Visions Nominees and Gold Key winning works will go on to compete at the national level and have the chance to be recognized as the best up-and-coming artists in the nation. Judges selected 197 additional individual submissions and 14 portfolios to receive the Silver Key award for outstanding achievement at the regional level. The panel selected 309 individual submissions and 10 portfolios to receive Honorable Mention. Finally, five students demonstrating exceptional talent were awarded scholarships.

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For the first time, the Museum is partnering with the University of Nevada, Reno School of the Arts and College of Liberal Arts to present concurrent exhibitions of select winning works. Select Gold Key artworks will be exhibited at the Sheppard Contemporary gallery at The Lilley Museum of Art at the University through March 5, 2021. Meanwhile, the five American Visions nominees will be on display at the Nevada Museum of Art, Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts, Wayne L. Prim Theater Lobby, located at 160 West Liberty Street in downtown Reno, Feb. 5 through March 5.

Award-winning students, their friends and families, and the public are invited to watch the virtual awards ceremony, Friday, Feb. 19, on the Nevada Museum of Art Facebook Page and on YouTube. The live broadcast will begin at 6 pm and will feature select student, their works, and speeches from past winners, teachers, and Museum staff. A recording of the broadcast will be available to share after the event.

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The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the longest-running national arts recognition initiative for creative teens. Since 1923 the Awards have identified and awarded some of the nation’s most accomplished visionaries. Past winners include influential American artists and writers such as Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Stephen King, and Reno’s own Michael Sarich. For 23 years, the Nevada Museum of Art has overseen the Northern Nevada regional visual arts component of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

The 2021 Scholastic Art Awards is generously sponsored by an anonymous donor, City of Reno Arts & Culture Commission, and the Nell J. Redfield Foundation. Additional support is provided from Wild Women Artists.

Source: The Nevada Museum of Art