AWARDS CEREMONY Fri. April 26 | 6-7:30pm
Students throughout the region submitted original works of art showcasing their creativity and artistic talent, and have an opportunity to compete for several distinguished awards for young artists.
Westport Arts Center is pleased to announce the following 2019 awardees:
Sontag Award
Juror’s selection for best in show
$500 prize
Julia Cheung
A Long Life
14 x 17 inches
graphite on paper
Joel Barlow High School (Redding)
Grade 10
Jurists Keith Miller & Lauren Walsh (NYU Gallatin School), Amanda Innes (Westport Arts Center), artist Julia Cheung & teacher Michael Angelis (Joel Barlow High School), Michael Delgass (CEO of Sontag Advisors)
Tracy Sugarman Award
Juror’s Choice for best submission among Westport students
$100 prize
An illustrator, writer, civil rights activist and WWII veteran, Tracy Sugarman was an active member in the Westport community for over 60 years. He is best known for his painting and illustrations capturing the intensity of moments in American history from D-Day to the space shuttle. Mr. Sugarman passed away in January 2013 at the age of 91. This award is generously sponsored by the Honorable Alan and Janet Nevas in memory of this brilliant man. Learn more >
Ben Roland
Suicide Cliff, Sydney, Australia
pen & ink on paper
Staples High School
Grade 12
Jurists Keith Miller & Lauren Walsh (NYU Gallatin School), Amanda Innes (Westport Arts Center), artist Ben Roland (Staples High School)
People’s Choice Award
The artist who has received the most votes by the public
$250 prize
Laura Galindo
An Unlikely Acquaintance
21.25 x 18 inches
acrylic paint
Fairfield Warde High School
Grade 12
Amanda Innes (Westport Arts Center), artist Laura Galindo (Fairfield Warde High School)
Honorable Mention
Matthew Genser
L’Adurée
Porta 400 film photography
Staples High School
Grade 9
Jurists Keith Miller & Lauren Walsh (NYU Gallatin School), Amanda Innes (Westport Arts Center), artist Matthew Genser (Staples High School)
Honorable Mention
Nancy Kelly (teacher) and the AITE Community
Stamford Academy of Information Technology & Engineering
Amanda Innes (Westport Arts Center), teacher Nancy Kelly (AITE)
Jurists
Two distinguished professors and curators from NYU’s Gallatin School for Individualized Study will jury the exhibition.
Keith Miller is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow and a curator, artist, and filmmaker. He has been the curator of the Gallatin Galleries since it opened in 2008 and the founding curator of the SAC Gallery at Stony Brook University from 2001 to 2008, and has curated over forty thematic gallery and museum exhibitions. He has been a part time professor at Gallatin School for Individualized Study at NYU since 2006 and was awarded the Gallatin School Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2014. His paintings and videos have been shown in solo and group shows throughout the world. His film Five Star won Best Editing for a Narrative Feature at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, where it premiered, and had its international premiere at the Venice Biennale. His first feature film, Welcome to Pine Hill, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance Film Festival 2012 and at the Atlanta Film Festival, and several other awards. He is the co-creator of Brooklynification, a comedy series on BRIC TV.
Lauren Walsh teaches at The New School and NYU, where she is the Director of Gallatin’s Photojournalism Lab. Her classes focus on the history of photography, contemporary visual culture, war reportage, and journalistic ethics. Walsh’s newest book, Conversations on Conflict Photography (2019), explores public response to photographic coverage of war and humanitarian crises. Walsh is coeditor of The Future of Text and Image (2012) and Millennium Villages Project (2016), and editor of Macondo: Memories of the Colombian Conflict (2017), and is the Director of Lost Rolls America, a national public archive of photography and memory. Walsh has curated photography exhibitions in New York City, with an emphasis on documentary and journalistic practice and conflict photography. Her research concentrates on questions of memory and visual media, and ethics. She holds a PhD from Columbia University.
