Published On: March 8th, 2016By

Eckert Intermediate School Students Win MFAH’s ‘Contingent Beauty’ Art Competition

The Eye of the Beholder: The young artists use their creative talent to express beauty.
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Gysel Rocha from Eckert Intermediate School won second place in the invitation only competition.

 


[dropcap color=”#888″ type=”square”]S[/dropcap]tudents across the Houston area had a chance to take part in an art competition. It was sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Mercantil Commercebank.

The competition was held in conjunction with the exhibition Contingent Beauty. The exhibit ran Nov. 22 through Feb. 28. It featured contemporary art from Latin America. Mercantil Commercebank and the MFAH hosted the Student Art Contest. They also sponsored the exhibition of work by K-8 student artists. The competition was invitation only. Eckert Intermediate School was among the campuses chosen to take part.

Judges selected three winners and three honorable mention artworks. The pieces were displayed Feb. 23 at the MFAH’s Kinder Foundation Education Center Gallery. The students’ work is currently installed at the new Mercantil Commercebank Texas Regional Office and Town and Country Banking Center, 750 Town and Country Blvd., Suite 150 (Houston 77024).

MFAH-Logo-1Two Eckert Intermediate School students are among the award recipients. Their art teacher is Timothy García.

Eckert Intermediate School Winners

2nd Place — Gysel Rocha
Honorable Mention — Brianna Gonzalez

Mercantil-Commercebank-logo-1Mercantil Commercebank invited students and their families to attend the opening reception. The event is set for March 8 at the Town and Country location. The young artists will receive their awards at the event. The first, second and third place prizes will be $500, $300 and $200, respectively. The three honorable mentions will receive $50 each.

Jason L. Moodie was one of the organizers. He stated the works had to reflect the ideas in the exhibition Contingent Beauty. They had to respond specifically to the following theme: The Eye of the Beholder. Moodie is manager of studio and gallery programs at the MFAH.

This was a great exercise to get students to think about beauty,” said Moodie. “Each individual finds beauty in different ways. What makes something beautiful? How do relationships with surroundings help to shape beauty? Is beauty affected by the past? Can something beautiful be used to create something that is not, or can the opposite be true?

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Artwork by Brianna Gonzalez

The goal was to get students to think about beauty in new ways. Then they needed to use creativity to express their idea or ideas. The artists are young. But this was a great way to teach them to dig deeper for meaning, commonalities and metaphors. Art is a wonderful teaching tool.

The student works are wonderful. I thank everyone for taking part in the contest.

Moodie also thanks Mercantil Commercebank for sponsoring the contest.

Congratulations!

About the Author: Leticia Fehling

Director of Internal Communications