The Art Department at Monmouth Academy is pleased to announce that it had six winners in the Maine Scholastic Art Competition this year. This is an annual competition in which high school students from 65 Maine schools compete against one another by submitting artwork to be evaluated by a panel of artists and art educators. The Scholastic Art Awards are the longest running recognition program of their kind in the country, with the goal of fostering creative expression and artistic achievement. The awards are sponsored annually by the Maine College of Art, and winning pieces were on display at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland throughout January.

Monmouth Academy freshmen art student winners are Jami Emery, Scott Turcotte and Sarah Spence, who all won silver medals for landscape painting in their age group. In the higher age group, Monmouth had three more winners; sophomore Kelsie Condon, who won a merit award for her scratchboard Study of An Elderly Man; senior Krysten Gabri, who won a silver medal for her colored pencil drawing entitled Denny’s Still-life; and senior Erin Hayford, who was a gold medal winner for her painted Self-Portrait. As a gold medal winner, Erin’s painting will move on to New York City to hang in a gallery and compete in the National Competition.

Monmouth’s two senior artists were also the winners of the two most prestigious awards in the competition: Erin Hayford was named an American Visions Award Nominee, which puts her work among the five pieces chosen as Best in Show. Krysten Gabri received the Congressional District Art Award, the highest honor given in the competition. As a result her piece will hang in the Congressional Hall in Washington D.C. to represent the 2nd Congressional District in the State of Maine.

Monmouth students and others were honored at a formal ceremony at the Maine College of Art on Saturday, Jan. 17. In attendance were Christine Vincent, Maine College of Art President; Congressman Michael Michaud; Maine State Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron; and Carol Trimble, Director of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education.

The Art Department of Monmouth Academy, under the direction of Elizabeth Garrett, was created only eight years ago and has, in a very short time, proved to be an effective and successful program. Congratulations to these students on their hard work.