Aron Ladanyi awarded ’24 Prindle scholarship

LAKEVILLE — Aron Ladanyi has been named as the winner of the 2024 Warren Prindle Visual Arts Scholarship.

Ladanyi, who lives in Lakeville and graduated this year from Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS), will use the $80,000 scholarship to attend Pratt Institute in New York where he plans to major in film.

The scholarship is disbursed in annual amounts of $20,000 over four years to the college or university of the student’s choice.

The scholarship was formerly known as the Contemporary Visual Arts Scholarship and was renamed in this, its twentieth year, in honor of Warren Prindle, an art teacher at HVRHS who retired this year after twenty-one years of teaching and mentoring students.

“A teacher who has really stood out to me as a mentor in the arts is Mr. Prindle, who since my freshman year of high school has supported me and pushed me to become a better artist. Without his advice and skill, I don’t think I could have gone this far in my creative career, let alone receive this scholarship.,” said Ladanyi.

“Untitled,” a work by Aron Ladanyi, 2024 winner of the Warren Prindle Visual Arts Scholarship and recent Housatonic Valley Regional High School graduate,who will major in Film at Pratt Institute in New York.Provided

Aron’s interest in art began at three when “I made my first ever work of art, that being a crudely drawn giraffe with an unreasonable amount of legs. Since then, I have always liked drawing, and once I discovered there was more to it than orange markers and printer paper, I really began to create and explore all sorts of art.”

He counts among his influence’s artists such as Matisse, Richard Misrach, Robert Bereny, William Klein, and Egon Schiele and “many more.” He added, “I am often inspired by music and my surroundings.”

Aron has a collection of old cameras which he uses in his work. Film is no longer made for them, so he spends time at flea markets looking through old boxes of cameras searching for film. “You can’t predict what will come out,” he said, “because the film is so old and may be damaged.”

“I am honored to have been selected as the recipient of the Warren Prindle Visual Arts Scholarship and am grateful to the foundation for choosing me out of all the applicants. The generosity of the scholarship is incredible, and it will help me astronomically in my time studying at the Pratt Institute and in my future career.”

The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, a nonprofit organization founded in 1963 by artist Jasper Johns, sponsors the scholarship. The scholarship winner is selected on the basis of talent and financial need and is awarded each year to a graduating HVRHS student.