A Grade 11 Chatelech student has been awarded a scholarship from the Gibsons School of the Arts that will allow her to attend one of five workshops taught by professional artists and offered in Gibsons this summer.
Sechelt's Blair Lawson, who recently displayed a colourful painting at the Young People's Own Show at the Arts Centre, was judged on the basis of merit by three artist jurors who are independent of the art school. The criteria for the scholarship was stringent and difficult to achieve, even for a professional. Three pieces of work from each applicant, aged 14 to 22, were judged on the basis of compositional integrity, craftsmanship, creative interest, technical challenge and even a professional touch.The young artist shows great maturity, says Gibsons School of the Arts' scholarship committee member Bobbie Cox."You have to be very good to win this scholarship," she said. "The good ones jump out at you and you know when there's someone with talent."
Lawson is modest.
"I've been taking art since grade 8," she says, producing mostly pencil drawings until her recent foray into acrylics.Her big painting that was recently shown at the Arts Centre, along with work from Coast high school students, depicts a strikingly languid teen leaning against the edge of the frame while the perspective of a colourful room's interior distorts in the background. The picture is untitled; the subject is Lawson's younger sister."I like drawing people," she says.
"It's more challenging."
Right now, she's trying her hand at landscape. For her workshop award, she has elected to be part of Joyce Kamikura's (SFCA) mixed media class in August.
Cox says that the scholarship committee likes to follow the progress of young artists such as last year's scholarship winner Malgorzata Kopania, now an art school student. Lawson hasn't decided yet what her future will be; it could be art school or she could focus on graphic design.
Three of the Gibsons School of the Arts summer workshops are already full and the remaining two are filling up quickly. For more information, call 604-886-4956 or see www.gibsonsartschool.net.
