Westport, CT -- The Westport Arts Center has announced the winner of the Sontag Advisory "Best of Show" award for its third annual High School Student Exhibition: Elisha Brockenberry, for her mixed media work titled Hot Head. Brockenberry is a rising tenth grade student at Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet School in Bridgeport, CT. The award includes a $500 cash prize.
Michael Delgass, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Sontag Advisory, stated of the award, “We want to encourage the development of future artists and to foster an appreciation of our region as a historically important center for the arts.”
Brockenberry’s work was selected by Charlotte Strick and Claire Williams Martinez, the jurors of the upcoming artist member show SELECTS, opening at the Westport Arts Center on July 14. Strick is the Art Editor of The Paris Review literary magazine, and Williams Martinez is a former Chapter President of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Design) Chicago.
In a statement prepared by Strick and Williams Martinez, they stated of Brockenberry's work, "This confidently rendered portrait is very well-observed. Through the artist's energetic line and imperfectly applied watercolor washes, she manages to capture a sense of agitation -- a comment on the subject's personality; he is defiant yet vulnerable. As Brockenberry herself explains, [this is] 'a drawing of a boy who looks angry, but is not really.’ Kudos to Brockenberry for capturing this reality."
The High School Student exhibition is currently on view at the Westport Arts Center through June 30, 2017. Over 30 student artists were selected to exhibit by Ann Chernow and Leonard Everett Fisher. The Tracy Sugarman Award was given to 12th Grade Staples High School student Sophia Livecchi in May.
The High School Student competition is sponsored by The Honorable Alan and Janet Nevas in memory of Tracy Sugarman.
About the Westport Arts Center
The Westport Arts Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting community through the arts, reaches more than 11,000 people annually through outstanding programs in visual arts, arts education, and the performance arts of Chamber music and jazz.
The Westport Arts Center also receives philanthropic support from the Katherine and Howard Aibel Foundation; Anthropologie & Co.; Artur and Heida Hermanns Holde Foundation, Inc.; Bernstein Private Wealth Management;; Cohen and Wolf, P.C.; Connecticut Office of the Arts; Critical Mix; Delamar Southport; Design Within Reach; Dragone Motor Cars; Fairfield County Bank; Fairfield County's Community Foundation; Fairfield County Hunt Club; 4th Row Films; GWAY Print Solutions; Hal Prince Music; the Hall Art Foundation; The Hofstetter Baron Group; J.P. Morgan; Land Rover/Jaguar of Fairfield; Moffly Media; Newman’s Own Foundation; Northeast Tent; Random Acts; Rosenkranz Foundation; Serena & Lily; Shack Sackler Foundation; Sontag Advisory LLC; Steven Mancini Salon; Success Printing & Mailing; Teich Gardens; Tito's Handmade Vodka; Verde Energy USA, Inc.; Wells Fargo Advisors; Westport Now; Westport Resources, a division of United Capital; William J. Rosenbloom Charitable Trust; WPKN and WSHU Public Radio Group.
For more information, contact the Westport Arts Center at (203) 222-7070 or www.westportartscenter.org. The Westport Arts Center gallery is open Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 51 Riverside Avenue, Westport, CT.