Guidelines and Information
“An Artistic Discovery” is the annual Congressional High School Art Competition. Since the U.S. House of Representatives created the competition in 1982, hundreds of thousands of talented high school students have served as artistic ambassadors to their communities.
Eligibility
High school students (grades 9-12) residing in or attending public, private and home schools located in the 26th Congressional District are eligible to participate. If you have questions regarding student eligibility, please contact Robin Vaughan in my Lewisville office at 972-434-9700 or robin.vaughan@mail.house.gov.
Awards
The Greater Denton Arts Council co-sponsors this annual juried competition. Student artists will have their works judged by a professional art educator chosen by the GDAC. From Monday, April 1st through Sunday, April 7th, all qualified submissions will be posted in a virtual gallery on my website.
- GRAND Prize
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
- Texas Choice
- Best of School
The “Best of School” awards will be selected by the art juror from the posted artwork and will be given to one student artist from each school; as a finalist, they will have their artwork further considered for the Grand Prize, First, Second or Third Prize. In addition, The Texas Choice Award will be selected by friends, family and the public voting on the virtual exhibition of all artwork posted online on my website. The artwork earning the most votes will be named the “Texas Choice” winner. On Tuesday, April 9th, the “Texas Choice” and “Best of School” awards will be announced online and via email to art teachers.
The artwork selected by the art juror for GRAND Prize will be displayed for an entire year in the U.S. Capitol. The exhibit hallway is traveled daily by members of Congress, their staffs and thousands of visitors who are able to view the artwork from Congressional districts throughout the country – each piece highlighted with the name of the work and student artist. The 26th District winner is awarded two airline tickets (winning student & 1 parent) to Washington, D.C. (good for June 2013 from Dallas Love Field Airport to Baltimore Washington International Airport) to see the unveiling of their artwork at the national reception and exhibition in mid-June (Date TBD). (Note: Other travel expenses are the responsibility of the winner’s family.)
Their winning artwork will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for the next year and a tour of the Capitol will be provided by my office.
The First Place winner will have the opportunity to have their work displayed publicly in my Lewisville district office for the upcoming year.
**Submitting Entries**
Entries will initially be submitted digitally by the art teacher(s) from schools wishing to participate. Each art teacher may submit up to 5 entries with no student allowed to submit more than one entry. All works must be submitted as a group through the art teacher. Images must not exceed 250 pixels in height or width and must be in JPEG.
Please label your images in the following manner:
StudentLastName_StudentFirstName_ArtworkTitle_HighSchool.jpg. Example: Doe_John_StillLife_Amercian High School.jpg
Art Teachers, to submit the digital images, send via email to TX26RSVP@mail.house.gov; Monday, March 25th at 5:00 PM is the deadline for submission of digital artwork.
Submissions MUST BE accompanied by a School Entry Form and Student Information Release Form for each student. Any artwork submitted that does not have the required documents will not be accepted for online judging and exhibition.
Only those works that are selected as “Best of School” by the judge and the “Texas Choice” artwork selected by popular vote online must be physically delivered for final judging and exhibition. They must be delivered to my Lewisville district office OR the Center for the Visual Arts in Denton on the dates specified to be considered for final judging. Artwork DOES NOT HAVE to be FRAMED for the local contest.
Media
All two-dimensional media is accepted. Art work categories are as follows:
- Painting: oil, acrylic, watercolor, etc
- Drawing: pastel, colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, ink, markers
- Collage
- Prints: lithographs, silkscreen, block prints
- Mixed Media
- Computer Art
- Photography
Each piece must meet the following guidelines to be accepted and considered.
- Two dimensional only.
- Each piece can be no larger than 28” x 28” x 4” (28 inches high, 28 inches wide, and 4 inches deep), including the frame and must adhere to the size guidelines. If your artwork is selected as the Grand Prize or First winner, it will be required to be framed. Framing will be the responsibility of the sponsoring school.
- No more than 15 pounds in weight.
- No obscene, violent, or pornographic subjects.
Each entry must be original in concept, design and execution and may not violate any U.S. copyright laws. Any entry that has been copied from an existing photo (other than the student’s own), painting, graphic, advertisement, or any other work produced by another person is a violation of the competition rules and will not be accepted. Work entered must be in the original medium (that is, not a scanned reproduction of a painting or drawing).
The winning art work will hang in the Capitol for the entire year of the exhibition and cannot be returned to the students earlier. Grand Prize and First Place winners’ artwork will be retained for one year. Students should therefore submit artwork they will not need for other purposes.
Artwork must adhere to the policy of the House Office Building Commission. In accordance with this policy, exhibits depicting subjects of contemporary political controversy or a sensationalistic or gruesome nature are not allowed. It is necessary that all artwork be reviewed by the panel chaired by the Architect of the Capitol and any portion not in consonance with the Commission’s policy will be omitted from the exhibit. The panel will make the final decision regarding the suitability of all artwork for the Congressional Art Competition exhibition in the Capitol.
Contest Calendar
- Monday, March 25: Deadline for submission of digital artwork by 5:00 PM.
- Monday, April 1: Online artwork voting opens. Art Juror reviews online artwork and selects “Best of School’s artworks (1/school) as finalists. These award winners advance to the finals.
- Sunday, April 7: Online artwork voting ends at midnight.
- Tuesday, April 9: “Texas Choice” online award and “Best of School” awards announced. Notification of “Best of School” and “Texas Choice” winners emailed to art teachers; these artworks are finalists and must be delivered by art teachers for final judging and exhibition at the Center for the Visual Arts in Denton.
- Monday, April 15 & Tuesday, April 16: All finalists’ artworks must be delivered by art teachers (8 AM-5 PM) to my Lewisville District Office OR the Center for the Visual Arts in Denton.
Congressman Burgess’ District Office
Lewisville Office
1660 S. Stemmons Frwy., Suite 230
Lewisville, TX 75067
Phone: 972/434-9700
|
Greater Denton Arts Council
Center for the Visual Arts
(corner of Bell & Hickory)
400 East Hickory
Denton, TX 76201
Phone: 940/382-2787 |
- The original completed Student Information & Release Form must be attached to the back of the artwork. In addition, entries must be clearly marked on the back of the artwork with the name of the artist, home address, phone and email, title of the piece, name of high school, and name of art teacher and their work phone and email.
- Artwork does NOT have to be framed for the local contest. (Note: The Grand Prize and First Place winners’ school will each be responsible for framing artwork by May 10th prior to shipment for display in Washington, D.C. or display in my office.
- Wednesday, April 17: Artwork received in my Lewisville District Office delivered to Center for the Visual Arts in Denton.
- April 18/19: Finalists’ artwork judged by Art Juror.
- Monday, April 22: Reception reminder emailed to student finalists, Art Teachers and School Administrators.
- Monday, April 29, 5:30-7:00 PM: “An Artistic Discovery” Reception; Center for the Visual Arts, 400 East Hickory, Denton, TX 76201. Exhibition and presentation of awards to winners. All artwork may be picked up at the conclusion of the reception.
- Friday, May 10: The Grand Prize and First Place winner’s schools will each be responsible for framing artwork according to the stated competition guidelines. These artworks must be delivered to my Lewisville district offices no later than this date. My staff will package and arrange shipment of Grand Prize winner’s artwork to Washington, D.C. First Place winners’ artwork will be accepted for display in my Lewisville district office.
- Late May/Early June: Grand Prize winner will be contacted with detailed information regarding arrangements to attend the national reception and exhibition.
- Mid-June (Date TBD): National opening of “An Artistic Discovery” exhibition in Washington, DC.
Exhibition
Students who are competition finalists, their parents, teachers and school administrators will be invited to attend a reception on Monday, April 29th, at 5:30 p.m. to view their “Best of Schools” and “Texas Choice” artwork on display at the Center for the Visual Arts in Denton. Also that evening, finalists will be recognized by Congressman Burgess and receive a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition. Grand Prize, First, Second, Third Place winners will be announced as well.
For more information regarding the 2013 Congressional Art Competition, please click here.
If you have questions, please contact: Robin Vaughan, Deputy District Director, in my Lewisville office by phone: 972-434-9700 or email: robin.vaughan@mail.house.gov.
|
|
