Congratulations to the
2020 Brighton Art Guild Scholarships Winners!
Ethan Pipe, $1000 Norma Gray Scholarship for the Visual Arts
Artist Statement:
If I had to narrow down my reason for creating, it would have to be exploration. My desire to grow is intricately linked with my desire to explore, as my simple goal for my lifetime is to be able to illustrate anything I want to. A relatively selfish goal, I know, but I want to be able to share, and show, the many crazy ridiculous landscapes that appear in my head. I love to explore these many vast landscapes I create within my mind.
If I had to narrow down my reason for creating, it would have to be exploration. My desire to grow is intricately linked with my desire to explore, as my simple goal for my lifetime is to be able to illustrate anything I want to. A relatively selfish goal, I know, but I want to be able to share, and show, the many crazy ridiculous landscapes that appear in my head. I love to explore these many vast landscapes I create within my mind.
Caralyn Jellison, $500 Brighton Art Guild High School Visual Arts Scholarship
Artist Statement:
I am often found in my room with my sketchbook in hand, drawing and sketching, relaxing and unwinding from my day. Drawing to me is a release, a way to escape the demands of daily life. Art, in a lot of ways has helped me refocus and gives me something to look forward to each day. I am a very dedicated artist and strive through my artwork to bring light to a world that can sometimes feel like a nightmare. My art is my voice, a story that I want to tell through pencil strokes rather than words. This coming Fall, I will be attending Kendall College of Art and Design, where I will be studying medical illustration. One of the many goals that I have set for myself during the coming year is to push myself to my artistic limits. I want to break out of my comfort zone are strive for new things.
I am often found in my room with my sketchbook in hand, drawing and sketching, relaxing and unwinding from my day. Drawing to me is a release, a way to escape the demands of daily life. Art, in a lot of ways has helped me refocus and gives me something to look forward to each day. I am a very dedicated artist and strive through my artwork to bring light to a world that can sometimes feel like a nightmare. My art is my voice, a story that I want to tell through pencil strokes rather than words. This coming Fall, I will be attending Kendall College of Art and Design, where I will be studying medical illustration. One of the many goals that I have set for myself during the coming year is to push myself to my artistic limits. I want to break out of my comfort zone are strive for new things.
Mattew Ulincy, $500 Ron and Norma Gray Memorial Scholarship
Artist Statement:
My work is currently focused on the ideas of tension, awkwardness, and how the figure’s relationship to the composition affects this. Often in art, things are romanticized: characters from a show about young British World War II soldiers all have makeup on with no acne and perfect teeth, the action hero fights a horde of “bad guys” without a scratch or needing ugly stitches, or there is a photograph of a “perfectly” smooth and “perfectly” posed high school teenager looking at the camera. I cannot relate to the idea of romanticized reality, and I am inspired by the opposite. Often, photos or moments are not perfect, but feel much more real than this romanticized reality - that polaroid was just to capture the moment your friend turned twenty-one, but they’re head is touching the top of the frame, your head is in the corner with more acne than you would have liked, eyes half-closed, and each person’s pupils are reflecting a red glare from the camera. This is awesome to me. In the next year I wish to bring this effect to characters and situations from fictional stories ranging from sci-fi movies to fantastical video games in the entertainment industry, making them feel just as real and relatable as journalistic photography.
My training resides in traditional media, however my goals for the next year include trying to bring over much of what makes traditional artwork beautiful into the digital scene. At the start of each image, I often bounce between playing with the slight distortions and energy that blind contours bring, or the rigidness and solidity that more accurate anatomical structures can convey. I then use this as a map for the energy and placement of the forms. Depending on what I wish to study, or what I wish to learn, I attempt to make myself as stylistically flexible as possible so that I can adapt to each piece and situation.
My work is currently focused on the ideas of tension, awkwardness, and how the figure’s relationship to the composition affects this. Often in art, things are romanticized: characters from a show about young British World War II soldiers all have makeup on with no acne and perfect teeth, the action hero fights a horde of “bad guys” without a scratch or needing ugly stitches, or there is a photograph of a “perfectly” smooth and “perfectly” posed high school teenager looking at the camera. I cannot relate to the idea of romanticized reality, and I am inspired by the opposite. Often, photos or moments are not perfect, but feel much more real than this romanticized reality - that polaroid was just to capture the moment your friend turned twenty-one, but they’re head is touching the top of the frame, your head is in the corner with more acne than you would have liked, eyes half-closed, and each person’s pupils are reflecting a red glare from the camera. This is awesome to me. In the next year I wish to bring this effect to characters and situations from fictional stories ranging from sci-fi movies to fantastical video games in the entertainment industry, making them feel just as real and relatable as journalistic photography.
My training resides in traditional media, however my goals for the next year include trying to bring over much of what makes traditional artwork beautiful into the digital scene. At the start of each image, I often bounce between playing with the slight distortions and energy that blind contours bring, or the rigidness and solidity that more accurate anatomical structures can convey. I then use this as a map for the energy and placement of the forms. Depending on what I wish to study, or what I wish to learn, I attempt to make myself as stylistically flexible as possible so that I can adapt to each piece and situation.
ABOUT OUR SELECTION PROCESS
The Scholarship Committee members represent 2D and 3D artists and expertise in most every medium. Given that, they all tap into their own fundamental inherent bank of knowledge as artists. As we all know, the most experienced artists and jurors can have a different opinion than you do about a particular work of art. So on the basis that all art is not created equal, we get to the nitty-gritty and focus on these five characteristics of art:
Eligibility:
The Scholarship Committee members represent 2D and 3D artists and expertise in most every medium. Given that, they all tap into their own fundamental inherent bank of knowledge as artists. As we all know, the most experienced artists and jurors can have a different opinion than you do about a particular work of art. So on the basis that all art is not created equal, we get to the nitty-gritty and focus on these five characteristics of art:
- Beauty in Art
- Skill and Technique
- Inherent Meaning
- Uniqueness
- Fulfilled Intent
Eligibility:
- All applicants must be attending a Michigan college or university in the fall.
- All applicants must be between the ages of 17 and 25.
- All college undergraduate & high school graduate students meeting the above criteria and are full-time residents of the State of Michigan are eligible to apply for the Norma Gray Scholarship.
| BAG Scholarship Application 2020 |
