Cottonwood Art Festival Recognizes Richardson Students As Top 10 Emerging Artists

Visual art students exhibit work April 1-30, Forrest and Virginia Green Mezzanine-Gallery at Charles W. Eisemann Center and May 4-5 at Cottonwood Art Festival.

RICHARDSON, TEXAS, USA, March 28, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Cottonwood Art Festival recognizes Richardson students as the top 10 visual artists for the 2024 Emerging Artist Program. The following RISD students were selected to participate:

Berkner High School

Ricardo Flores

J. J. Pearce High School

Kate Dawson

Luisa Lara

Olivia Ober

Elia Villasenor

Lake Highlands High School

Sophia Hufstedler

Max Young

Richardson High School

Rachel Cadena

Erin Glasscock

Ayianna Wooten

The Emerging Artist Program is open to Richardson ISD students in grades 10-12. Applicants submit five samples of their artwork, a brief artist statement or bio and explanation of their interest in art. A jury of professionals in the art industry review entries and 10 students are selected to participate.

“Art has become my way of expressing the complexity of human life, and I dream of using my talent for direction n creative projects,” said J. J. Pearce’s Luisa Lara. “I want the job of creativity to guide my future endeavors.”

Neighborhood Credit Union sponsors the Emerging Artist Program that exhibits their artwork during April at the Charles W. Eisemann Center in the Virginia Green Mezzanine-Gallery. Artists additionally have the opportunity to win placement awards and scholarships including $750 for Best of Show, $500 for 2nd Place, $300 for 3rd Place and $200 for Honorable Mention.

“We are extremely grateful to have a wonderful partnership with Neighborhood Credit Union. The Emerging Artist Program would not be possible without the support and donation of their scholarship prize money,” said Dianna Lawrence, Superintendent of Community Events. “Their support also gives the students the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work at the festival. For some of the artists selling off their prize possession is a hard thing to imagine but then they make their first sale and realize the value of their work. By the end of the festival many of the artists won’t have any artwork left.”

The People’s Choice Award is open for voting by the public and ends at noon on April 16.

“I declared that I wanted to be an artist when I was 8 years old and have never wavered in that dream since, said Richardson High School’s Erin Glasscock. “I love to create pieces of people and places that connect with me, have impact my life, tell and story and capture a moment in time.”

The selected artwork by Emerging Artists will be showcased from April 1-30 at the Virginia Green Mezzanine Gallery, situated within the Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts at 2351 Performance Drive in Richardson. Admission is free and open to the public during regular business hours. Additionally, students will have booths at the Cottonwood Art Festival, presenting their complete collection of artworks for purchase.

The Cottonwood Art Festival takes place the first full weekend of the months of May and October, at Cottonwood Park, located at 1321 W. Belt Line Rd. in Richardson, Texas. This year, the festival will be open on Saturday, May 4, from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., and on Sunday, May 5, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free.

The festival additionally includes live entertainment on the Imagery Courtyard Stage and Acoustic Stage, a craft beer garden, food trucks, ArtStop stations with activities for kids of all ages and more than 190 artist booths with artwork from around the world.

About Cottonwood Art Festival

Now in its 55th year, the semi-annual Cottonwood Art Festival is a juried show ranked among the Top 10 Fine Art Shows in the country by Art Fair SourceBook. Local artists staged the first festival at the scenic Cottonwood Park in Richardson, Texas in its humble beginnings in 1969. Cottonwood has since established itself as an internationally award-winning signature art event and become a tradition within the community. The festival designed outreach programs as innovative tools to mentor students, designed to broaden the interest in visual arts beyond the art festival, and bring the art world into classrooms. www.cottonwoodartfestival.com

Dianna Lawrence
City of Richardson
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Cottonwood Art Festival in Richardson, Texas