May 10–May 31, Old Dominion University Higher Education Center, Virginia Beach
The Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s 2016 Elie Wiesel Visual Arts competition, which yielded a record number of submissions from students across the nation, will culminate with a student art show at the Old Dominion University Higher Education Center in Virginia Beach.
Seventy pieces were selected from the more than 450 two- and three-dimensional art entries.
Student winners, their parents and teachers will be honored with a reception on Wednesday, May 18 at the Higher Education Center. In addition to the tangible artwork categories, winners from the multimedia division of the competition will also be honored and have their winning films projected at the reception.
Phyllis Sperling, co-chair of the art competition, says that the entries were not only impressive in terms of quality and the level of creativity displayed by the students, but the accompanying artists’ statements were particularly poignant and insightful. This, coupled with the quantity of entries, made this year’s competition particularly challenging to judge.
Twelve middle schools and 11 high schools were represented in this year’s visual arts competition, including one school from Hickory, North Carolina.
In addition to art and multimedia entries, the Elie Wiesel competition includes a writing competition. This year’s number of entries, from as far away as New York and Florida, totaled more than 1,700—making it a record year for the competition.
Winners were honored at the annual Yom Hashoah commemoration on May 4. The winning pieces—including essay, poetry, art and multimedia— are online at www.JewishVA.org/holocaust-elie-wiesel.
The annual competition is generously sponsored by TowneBank and the Simon Family Foundation.
by Laureen Richard