In honor of Iowa’s most famous artist’s 125th birthday, the Grant Wood Art Colony established the Grant Wood Legacy Prize. The Colony awarded the inaugural prize to three outstanding, high-school-aged, visual artists in Iowa: Thierry Habinshuti (Urbandale), Polyphony Bruna (Ames), and Natalie Jacobson (Spencer).
Grant Wood was a lifelong-educator, from his early years teaching at Cedar Rapids’s McKinley Junior High in the 1920s to the Stone City Art Colony of the 1930s and until his death while a University of Iowa faculty member. The Grant Wood Art Colony, committed to continuing the legacy of Grant Wood, promotes Wood’s passion for education and developing young artists. “The Grant Wood Legacy Prize enables the University of Iowa to discover young Iowa artists to encourage their talent,” said Maura Pilcher, Grant Wood Art Colony Director. “We hope to provide the support that influenced Wood’s career and contributed to his success.”
The three Grant Wood Legacy Prize recipients were selected from a pool of nearly 700 entries by a committee of Grant Wood Fellows and National Advisory Board Members. Winners were selected for their demonstration of a Regional voice and skill. Judges reviewed entries from Iowa students in the media categories in which Grant Wood worked: jewelry, painting, drawing and illustration, printmaking, design, ceramics and glass, and mixed media. The selection was done in collaboration with the Belin-Blank Center. The Belin-Blank Center serves as the affiliate for the Iowa and Midwest Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Grant Wood Legacy Prize winners and their educators will be recognized at the Annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony on March 26, 2016. Winners will receive a scholarship to the Belin-Blank National Scholars Institute Visual Arts Studio in the summer of 2016.
Check out the Midwest Scholastic at the Belin-Blank Center blog Freehand to see an interview with Thierry Habinshuti.
Thierry Habinshuti, Self Portrait, Painting. Grade 12, Age 19, Des Moines Christian School, Urbandale, IA. Zane Vredenburg, Educator; Belin-Blank Center, Affiliate; 2016 Gold Key; 2016 Grant Wood Legacy Prize.
Natalie Jacobson, Stitch a Day Keeps the Doctor Away, Drawing and Illustration. Grade 10, Age 15, Spencer High School, Spencer, IA. Janis Myers, Educator. Belin-Blank Center, Affiliate; 2016 Gold Key; 2016 Grant Wood Legacy Prize.
Polyphony Bruna, Sula, Printmaking. Grade 10, Age 15, Ames High School, Ames, IA. Shelli Hassebrock, Educator; Belin-Blank Center, Affiliate; 2016 Gold Key; 2016 Grant Wood Legacy Prize.