?Off the Wall,” an annual high school student festival sponsored by Lockheed Martin, will be celebrating its fifth anniversary at the Center for the Arts. Poetry and visual arts contest winners will be honored during a reception from 3- 5p.m. this Saturday, January 10th (snow date, January 17) in the Center?s Caton Merchant Family Gallery. At 4 p.m. Nancy McLoda from Lockheed Martin will hand out cash awards to both poetry and visual art winners.
This year entries came from six schools– Battlefield, Brentsville, Forest Park, Osbourn, Osbourn Park, and Woodbridge– with over fifty students selected for representation at the festival. Poetry award winners are: Brianna Cole, 1st place Woodbridge; Emily Baer, 2nd place, Woodbridge; Hali Haskins, 3rd place, Woodbridge. Visual art award winners are: Meranda Lattance, 1st place, Brentsville; Raechel Hurd, 2nd place, Battlefield; Caleb Fletcher, 3rd place, Brentsville; and seven additional honorable mention awards going to students in visual art: Caleb Fletcher (2 awards), Brentsville; Noelle Hebert, Osbourn; Heather Kaehler, Brentsville; Courtney Liddle, Battlefield; Emily Roberts, Brentsville and Michael Young, Osbourn.
The Center for the Arts Gallery Director, Anna Mish, finds the poetry this year to be outstanding, and is pleased to see the variety and styles of visual art on display. ?We have everything from traditional photography, oils, watercolors, to pastels and more.? She states, ?Each year we have been very grateful for the continuing support of Lockheed Martin as a sponsor of this event. It allows us to make a strong community connection, to provide a professional environment for first time exhibiting artists, and at the same time reinforce the value of creative development for all our area students.?
with writing papers
To see what our area youth can do when put to an artistic challenge, please visit during the reception on Saturday, or view the ?Off the Wall? exhibit on
display until January 30th. Gallery hours are 10-5 p.m. weekdays, and 1-5 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, visit the Center for the Arts website at: www.center-for-the-arts.org or call 703.330.ARTS (2787).