Arts Students Earn International Awards

NEW HARTFORD — Artistic students from throughout Litchfield County participated in this year’s International Youth Art Exchange in New Hartford, taking home numerous international awards for their work.

The awards went to students at Ann Raymond’s Center for the Arts, dubbed The Glass Castle, where master artists Ann and Robert Raymond encourage youngsters to share their artwork with the world.

The International Youth Art Exchange is a program created by the World Awareness Children’s Museum in Glens Falls, N.Y. Foreign artwork is circulated among American schools that participate during their fall and spring semesters and American drawings are judged in April before receiving awards and being displayed in a United States collection.

Elementary and middle school students in Litchfield County participate annually by taking classes both during school and summer seasons at the Raymonds’ home, where they receive instruction in fine arts. This year’s theme, “Rights of Passage,� relates to life lessons and coming of age.

“They won first and second prizes this year out of 70 children,� said Robert Raymond.

“We’ve never had so many winners,� Ann Raymond added. “This year we have first- and second-place winners at the same school.�

Student Jacob Boyan won first place with a painting of Native American ceremonial dancing.

Jonathan Brasley, 10, received the second-place prize for a voting booth with the inscription “I’m old enough to vote.� Winners of Critic’s Choice awards included Acacia Farber Krug, Miranda Monyak, Ethan Ossolinski, Leslie Tracy and Nathan VanBuren.

Honorable mention awards went to Michael Barry, Natalie Canterbury, Olivia Fassanella, Katelyn Koether, Brenna Morrissey, Liam Merritt, Abby Harwood, Matthew DeMichele, Andrew Ward and Ryan Mahoney.

Every student receives a certificate of recognition and the students whose artwork is chosen to be shipped around the world are informed where their drawings have been sent. Foreign and American artwork is exhibited around the world in museums, galleries, libraries, private businesses and corporations.

Ann Raymond said she has 40 children come at different times during the afternoon for classes and has been running the center for 23 years.

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