Have you ever wondered where we display the beautiful National Medalist artwork we receive every year? We recently started a new Instagram series, On Our Walls, which takes you on a special tour of the work that hangs in the Scholastic New York City Headquarters.

Many of the National Medalist works move on to be a part of the Art.Write.Now.Tour and Art.Write.Now.DC following the National Exhibition. The work that does not go on the road will find a year-long home in our offices, including 3D works that are too fragile to travel. For the thousands of employees and visitors who come through our doors every day, the opportunity to see your work is a very special experience.

Be sure to follow us on Instagram at @artandwriting to follow the fun and check out the work after the jump!
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Guests viewing the work on display at the Albuquerque stop of the Art.Write.Now.Tour

The Scholastic Awards national office is dedicated to growing affiliates across the country, including the Southwest! Here’s the latest on the New Mexico Region and its new art award program!

As we’ve reported, the Art.Write.Now.Tour, the national student exhibit of selected Gold Medal winners, just finished its run at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, which brought about awareness and generated excitement for the program. Two students from New Mexico who currently have their work in the Tour represented their home state. School field trips were coordinated to view the exhibit, and some school commitments had been made to participate in the program as an art course requirement. Read More

Untitled (Separate Yourself From the Animals), 2013. By Justin Nissley.

Guest post by Justin Nissley (2001 Scholastic Awards winner) whose art is currently being shown in a group exhibition at the Taubman Museum of Art until January 25. Justin received his BFA in Studio Art at Virginia Tech, and now resides and works in New York City. He was also a part of our first artist-and-residency program, the Atelier, in the fall/winter of 2011.

New York City is a great place for an artist to live. There is so much to see and do, and artists can visit many local galleries to get their finger on the pulse of what is happening in the art world. I think going to look at art is one of the most important things an artist can do, other than creating it.

My art for the past 7 years has been figurative, and mostly painting portraits. I’m drawn to the face because I’m constantly surrounded by people, and each person is fascinating in his or her own way. Recently, I started doing charcoal drawings of people in gas masks. Read More

On September 29, we launched Art.Write.Now.Pop-Up! to celebrate the start of the 2014 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Functioning as a flash residency for one Awards alumni, the pop-up took over the main display window of the flagship Scholastic Store. In one week, alum Timothy H. Lee created not only impressive works of art, but also an environment that mirrored his studio for all to observe.

Every day, curious passers-by looked on as Timothy’s surprisingly scientific process resulted in beautiful watercolor works adorned with intricate cutouts reminiscent of cell structures. Timothy, a Korean-born New York-raised artist, studied Neuroscience, Drawing and Biology when he attended Wesleyan University. After graduating with high honors, he decided to table his medical ambitions in favor of becoming a full-time studio artist. Perhaps the most intriguing part of his process to watch was the cutting of his vast network of diamond-shaped slices. Scholastic employees, tourists, locals, and even TV Host/Actor Nick Cannon, looked on, completely mesmerized by his hypnotic technique. Read More

Mel Bochner. Measurement Shadow, 1969 via Peter Freeman Inc.

If you’re in New York City this summer, be sure to visit Scholastic Awards alum Mel Bochner’s Proposition and Process: A Theory of Sculpture (1968 – 1973) at Peter Freeman, Inc. in SoHo, now extended through July 12. This striking exhibition features 18 of Bochner’s works produced during the beginning of his career – just 10 years after he received his Award in 1958 at the age of 18. Bochner was among the first conceptual artists to create art in which the walls of the gallery are the subject, and this show is no exception. Each piece interacts and alters this looming storefront space, and compels the viewer to look, read and think simultaneously.
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This post originally appeared on Scholastic’s On Our Minds blog. By Lia Zneimer.

It’s been ten days since the 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Award winners were honored at Carnegie Hall, but we’re still celebrating their accomplishments. The two weeks following the Awards ceremony (which, by the way, you can watch [or re-watch] online) are some of my favorite: that’s when a selection of Award-winning art and writing is on display here in New York. Of course, living in this City means we’re fortunate enough to be surrounded by countless museums and galleries, but I can honestly say that the pieces featured in the Art.Write.Now.2013 National Exhibition are some of the most extraordinary I’ve seen. Read More