Owen Christian, 12, and Izzy Molinaro, 11, placed first and second in the ESU Jianna V. Bolk Martin Luther King Jr. art contest.
They will be receiving awards at the annual MLK Celebration Breakfast on Jan. 15th. The breakfast will be held at Terraview at Stroudsmoor Country Inn at 8 a.m.
Both pieces will be on display for all to see as well as countless entries from Art 3, Art 4, and AP art students at the Madelon Powers Gallery.
Students from across Monroe County entered the competition. This includes students from East Stroudsburg, Pocono Mountain School District, Pleasant Valley, and other surrounding schools.
The theme of the contest was the quote “Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness, Only Light Can Do That. Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate, Only Love Can Do That” from Martin Luther King JR.’S famous “Loving your Enemies” speech.
Winning first place, Christian will receive a $100 Visa gift card and ESU merchandise.
With it being his last year in Stroudsburg High School before graduating next year, winning first place is a well-deserved accomplishment for Christian.
Christian says, “I really appreciate it and am grateful for the opportunity to compete in this contest. I’m fortunate that I was told about it and how it helps our community.”
The contest began it has unified over 400 people from our community on MLK’s Day of Observance over the years. People from across our country join together to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr and what he has done for us with their art. Since its invention, 49 Mary Gertrude Smith Boddie Scholarships have been awarded to ESU students as well as a total of 70 MLK university and community awards.
Christian’s art piece was done digitally over a week and a half. Like any artist, he put plenty of effort and thought into his award-winning artwork. He completed it for his Art 3 class and his AP art class.
“I thought I could best represent his presence digitally and with the prompt being what it was, I think this was the way my vision could be created and interpreted the best,” explained Christain, “I thought Martin Luther King’s actions and words best represent warmth and since it felt like he meant what he said, the warm colors chosen help people feel the impact of his message.”
Christian took the prompt and researched before drawing what he felt it meant to him.
The rest of the drawing, including the color and the background, was done without a reference.
Coming in second place, Molinaro will receive a $75 Visa gift card and ESU merchandise. She submitted the artwork for her Art 3 class, but she is also in Art 2 and is the President of the Art Club (Classroom Code: x7h4rn2).
Molinaro was “very proud” when seeing her second-place ranking. She worked on her piece for over twelve hours and, like many artists, went through lots of planning.
“I thought that black and white was a t portrayal of love and hate and with the quote, it felt very symbolic,’ expressed Molinaro, “The people in the light are happy but those in the darkness are hateful. I kind of thought of the faces as pieces of a puzzle. I did it digitally first to get a good composition and then transfer digital art into traditional.”
According to the ESU website, this contest has been going on for 27 years. Ms. Leah McKain, one of Stroudsburg’s art teachers, shared the high school has been involved for at least a decade.
ESU calls it a “significant and symbolic event in the East Stroudsburg Community as it is the largest program in the area honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
Students must follow the given theme but otherwise have full creative freedom over their art pieces. They may do it digitally or traditionally and use whatever media(pencils, crayons, watercolor, etc…) that they’d like.
All artwork had to be made by the students submitting it.
Christian expressed gratitude for our Stroudsburg art teachers saying, “Thank you, Ms. McKain, for giving me this opportunity.”
