7th Congressional District Art Competition

As part of the 2012 Art Competition Advisory Council, I had the honor Monday of judging the 7th Congressional District Art Competition at Congressman Sean Duffy’s Wausau office. My fellow jurors included: Betsy Tannenbaum, New Visions Gallery; Deborah Janz, LuCille Tack Center for the Arts; Patricia Lenz, Superior Council for the Arts; Boleslaw Kochanowski, local blacksmith/artist; and Mona Kochendorfer, artist/teacher, and Ori-Anne Pagel, artist/teacher, both from Ladysmith.

The competition – open to high school students in grades 9-12 residing in the 7th Congressional District, which includes all of Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland, Iron, Burnett, Washburn, Sawyer, Price, Lincoln, Polk, Barron, Chippewa, Clark, Taylor, Marathon, Wood and Portage counties and portions of Oneida and Langlade counties – garnered ninety-six entries from thirteen schools.

The Art Advisory Council recognized three of the artworks with special honors.

Grand Prize: The student artwork chosen will be featured in the Capitol in Washington for one year. The winner and a guest are provided with airline tickets to the nation’s capital for the exhibition opening in June.  The winner is eligible for a $1,500 scholarship.

First Prize: This student’s artwork will hang in Congressman Duffy’s Wausau office.

Second Prize: This student’s artwork will hang in Congressman Duffy’s office in Superior.

Third Prize: Selected via People’s Choice voting on Facebook, this student’s artwork will hang in Congressman Duffy’s Washington office.

Each participant also will receive a certificate of participation from Congressman Duffy.

All the entries will be included in an exhibition at the Center for the Visual Arts in Wausau, May 12-July 15. The winning artists will be announced at the opening reception.

The judges had many beautiful and creative artworks from which to choose, and in a short time we voted unanimously for the top three. I cannot share the winning students’ names, but I can encourage everyone to visit the exhibition at the Center for the Visual Arts May 12-July 15. You can see all the entries online and vote before May 18 for your favorite by visiting Sean Duffy’s Facebook page today.