Junior Indigenous Art Exhibition and Competition
Young Native artists are invited to to enter the Junior Indigenous Art Exhibition and Competition, which returns for a second year in an online format. All submissions will be displayed in an online virtual art exhibition through the Museum’s website and social media, including Facebook and Instagram.
History
The tradition of an annual youth art show goes back to 1931, when Museum of Northern Arizona co-founder and Curator of Art Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton started an annual exhibit to encourage Arizona school students to showcase their artwork. As the years progressed, the show focused on children who attended schools on the Navajo, Hopi and Havasupai reservations. MNA has more than 250 pieces of artwork in its collection that were originally displayed during the years of the show, which ended in 1974, according to records. The museum continued encouraging young artists through awards given at its annual heritage festivals. In order to continue the young art awards during the 2020 pandemic, it was moved online.
Categories
Entries into this virtual art competition will be juried in two age groups- Youth (ages 12 and under) or Young Adult (ages 13 to 18). Within each age group, submissions will compete for first and second-place awards in the following categories:
- 2D Fine Art- to include original paintings, photography, cut paper, printmaking, mixed media, and drawings. Items made through mechanical reproduction, including posters, note cards, and t-shirts are not allowed. Giclée, Iris, or other digital photographic reproduction techniques are limited only to photography.
- Cultural Art- This category may include a variety of traditional and/ or culturally-based works. Examples include but are not limited to: personal attire and accessories, figurative objects, musical instruments, beadwork, textiles, carvings, sculpture, and functional objects such as bows and arrows, furniture, and shields.
First-place winners will be awarded $50 and second-place winners will be awarded $25. Artists may submit one piece and may suggest which category they would prefer their entry to be in.
How to enter
To enter, email the following to ddescheny@musnaz.org by 5pm, November 1st, 2021.:
- The artist’s name
- Proof of tribal affiliation
- The artist’s age
- Artist statement (300 words or less)
- Description and title of the piece
- Three high-quality photos of the piece
Deadline: 5 pm November 1, 2021
Winners will be announced on November 22nd.
2020 Junior Art Entries
