Youth A.C.T.

The Malden Observer has posted an article about the recent Urban Art Competition:

This year, the slogan for the Urban Art Competition could have been “Take Two” for two reasons.

The competition for youth artists occurred for the second straight year. It also took place after its initial date of June 20 was cancelled due to concerns over the weather (an abridged version of the contest did take place for those who showed up at Lincoln Commons).

So, on the second try of 2009, the competition took place last Saturday, and organizer Mai Du called it a success.

Read on for more: http://www.wickedlocal.com/malden/fun/entertainment/arts/x931236122/Art-with-attitude-Rescheduled-Urban-Art-Competition-a-success

Travis Anderson, the Boston.com town correspondent for Malden, has written an article about Youth A.C.T.’s Urban Art Competition.

About 100 children let their imaginations run wild in the second annual Urban Art Competition at Lincoln Commons, an event backed by the nonprofit Youth ACT and other sponsors.

“It turned out really well,” said Mai Du, cofounder of Youth ACT.

On June 20 and again last Saturday, youths painted for three hours on 40 canvasses, working with relish, according to Du.

“The event is meant to support youth and their artistic expressions,” she said in an e-mail. “For many, it has been this strong desire to visually acknowledge their existence and express their identity.”

Read on for more: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/malden/2009/07/youth_art_contest_crowns_winne.html

1st Place: Family Name by Jonathan Silva

Jonathan shared that he painted an ‘S’ to represent the first letter of his last name, “Silva”. He created arrows to declare that his family and heritage will live on forever.  He liked the colors he used so hence the choices and the planets around the ‘S’ gives it a mystic feeling as if it’s ‘outer space.’

2nd Place:  Name of Art Work: True Friendship by Maya Hayes and Grace Cappucio of Malden

Maya Hayes and Grace Cappucio originally started out to create a volcano. Soon enough, the art work split into two halves and each took a side.  Maya likes blue and white so she used those colors.  Grace likes brighter and louder colors so she used lots of yellow, red, and oranges. The girls shared that they are best friends but of totally opposite personalities.  But together, they balance each other out and make true friendship.

3rd Place: Name of Art Work: Leaving Emerald City by Nguyen Le (right) of Everett

Most Likely to Be Famous: Name of Art Work: Top of the World  by Mai Le Nguyen (left) of Everett, MA

Nguyen shared that a lot of people go to the city to find their dreams and build goals around it.  The painting depicts a girl who decided to leave the city of yellow brick road (Wizard of Oz) as she found that the city did not bring her what she has hoped for.

Mai painted an illuminated Earth with the city landscape in the background highlighting the urbanization of humanity. On top of the world is the Sun Goddess who is looking down on earth giving it light.  Both the lights from the urban community and the Sun Goddess make earth bright, healthy, and happy.

Most Creative:  Name of Art Work: No name by Jonathan Knox of Malden

Basically, Jonathan painted Jason from Friday the 13th with a hat.  Nothing in particular inspired his work except that he thought it would be interesting to depict Jason with a hat, as a different twist to how Jason is usually portrayed.

Most Inspiring: Name of Art Work: The Splattered by Jesse Bouley of Malden

Jesse started out painting and he soon found that his method was not bringing him satisfaction for his creative process.  Spontaneity motivated him to just throw paint onto his work so he started to splatter the paint and kept at it until he felt his self expression process completed.  It was a liberating and enjoyable process for Jesse.

People’s Choice:  Name of Art Work: Sunset by Jessica Ma of Malden

Jessica likes nature and places that brings her a sense of peace.  She felt inspired to paint the bright orange sunset to express a sense of serenity and inner peace.

There are photos and a field report at the Art Collaboratives artSpace@16 blog detailing the entire competition that took place on July 11th.

More photos will be coming on the site soon. In the meantime, some people have put their photos online on Facebook and others on Flickr.

There will be a list of the winners and their artworks here soon.

Congratulations to all the participants of the 2009 Urban Art Competition and many thanks for sharing your talents and creativity with the community! We had about 100 people from all around including Malden, Everett, Saugus, Somerville, Boston, Lincoln-Sudbury, Medford, Winthrop, and Chelsea!

Many thanks go to all the organizations and individuals who helped sponsor the event! Friends of Oak Grove, Inc. (FOOGI) provided all the boards and the sound system. The American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay also came out to support us. Malden Access Television and Asian Spectrum also came out to record our event and interview people. Other sponsors include Healthy Malden, Inc., Cambridge Health Alliance, and Kevin Duffy of the Malden School Committee. Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy and members of ImprovBoston came out to entertain the crowd during the competition.

More thanks to Stacy Gilchrist of Malden Arts who came out to support the event. She has invited some of the artwork to be displayed in the upcoming Window Arts event. Thanks to our judges Kathy Strissel and Sand T who served as our adult judges and Stephanie Tran as a youth judge.

We look forward to our art gallery later this year, and an even better competition next year!

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