Students Earn 19 Gold Keys, 1 American Vision Award at Scholastic Art Exhibition

The Lorain County Regional Scholastic Art Exhibition has been providing a program to recognize, exhibit and honor excellence in visual art from 7-12 grade students for over 50 years. The 2019 exhibition kicked off January 15 and includes 41 award-winning pieces of artwork created by Lake Ridge Academy students. 35% of Lake Ridge Academy artwork entered received a recognition, including nineteen entries receiving Gold Keys and one earning the prestigious American Vision Award, the highest regional honor. The Gold Key and American Vision winners have advanced to national jurying which will occur this spring in New York City.

The Scholastic Art Awards program is the largest annual art competition in the country. Students in schools across the United States and Canada create the 150,000 entries each year. The Lorain County region includes public and private middle and high schools from Lorain, Erie and Huron counties. Over 1,709 works were entered by 20 high schools and 12 junior high schools from the three counties. Work was juried by an esteemed panel of art and design professionals and professors from northeast Ohio. Work was judged by originality, technical skill and emergence of personal vision and voice. Grade 7-8 students compete in one division with all categories mixed. The high school students compete together, grades 9-12, at the “varsity level” within various separate media categories. Students earn third place "Honorable Mention", second place "Silver Key" and the first place of "Gold Key". Placing among the 550 pieces in this show is like placing in “districts” in sports.

American Vision Award Winner: Michelle Zhang ’20 Self-Portrait (featured photo)

Gold Key Winners:
Garen Hu ’19 (3 Gold Keys, including 2 portfolios)
Lely Liu ’19
Liz Navratil ’20
Matt Prill ’19 (4 Gold Keys, including 1 portfolio)
Ryan Rosu ’20
Olivia Watling ’19 (6 Gold Keys, including 1 portfolio)
Chengfei Wu ’19
Linsen Wu ’21
Michelle Zhang ’20

Silver Key Awards: 9
Honorable Mention Awards: 13

The exhibit is hosted at the Stocker Center gallery on the campus of Lorain County Community College and sponsored by the Nordson Corporation with additional funding from the C. Paul Stocker Arts Foundation and Lorain County Community College. The exhibit runs from Jan. 15 – Feb. 22 and is open to the public. Beth K. Stocker Gallery hours are Mon. - Fri. 10:30-2:30 with Tues., Wed., and Thurs. evenings 4-6:30pm and Sundays 1-5. The gallery is also open during Stocker Center Hoke Theater performances.