Artist/Teacher Works Tirelessly for Scholastic Art
Fort Mitchell Living
"Artist/Teacher Works Tirelessly for
Scholastic Art"
Mary Lou Ringo - Staff Reporter
Published: June 2004
Click here for a photocopy of Page 1 or Page 2 of this article retyped below.
For 90 years, the Scholastic Art Awards have given talented teens
recognition and scholarships, lots of scholarships. So when the Art
Academy of Cincinnati decided ten years ago that it would no longer
sponsor the program locally, Jennifer Baldwin, Fort Mitchell resident
and artist, stepped in. She knew this was too good a program to drop.
The first sponsor was the former Shillito's Department Store followed by the Art Academy. This really isn't a one-person job, but when she makes up her mind, she is a results-oriented machine. First, she had to raise $15,000 to cover costs, then find a place to exhibit the artwork.
The first year she was in charge, the work was exhibited at Howard Hall, formerly the Linneman Funeral Home behind Covington Latin School. The next six years the exhibit was held at The Carnegie Art Institute then the Crestview Hills Mall. Baldwin is already looking for a place for 2005 since part of the Mall is scheduled to be demolished.
While doing all this, she was teaching art at St. Henry High School and Covington Latin School. Baldwin said she used all her free time to look for donations.
There are 15 media categories of work which can be exhibited.
Forty-five hundred pieces of art were entered from this area in 2004. It had to be winnowed down to a manageable amount using a judging system that Baldwin devised. Among the judges are local artists and heads of art departments at colleges. After eliminating thousands of pieces, those remaining had to be judged for gold, silver or honorable mention. Only these pieces were exhibited.
Following the exhibit which was held in February at the Crestview Hills Mall, the pieces which won gold awards were packed and sent to New York for Judging alongside work from student artists from all over the United States. The artists whose is judged the best will be invited to New York for an exciting awards presentation.
Six portfolio winners will get the prize of a $10,000 scholarship. At least 60 institutions give scholarships to the young artists including the Art Academy and University of Louisville. Last year, seven local students whose portfolios won silver awards won scholarships. Baldwin's dream is a permanent home for the Scholastic Art Exhibit as well as other children's art projects. She has researched children's museums in many parts of the country.
In addition to sponsoring and exhibiting the Scholastic Art Awards work, she founded the Art Machine, a non-profit agency to help people understand the important role of art in the lives of children. The Art Machine had a project in which 27 schools submitted a square for a quilt for the Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
When Tall Stacks was in Cincinnati, the Art Machine worked with eight schools to create murals based on paintings from the Cincinnati Art Museum. Students performed a tableau of the painting in front of the murals and answered questions from the public about the art and artist.
The Art Machine sponsored and exhibit called Art of the Samburu, which featured paintings, beadwork, and handmade toys from children and women of the Northern Kenya tribe. One-hundred percent of the money went back to the artists whose lives were devastated by years of drought and poverty.
Baldwin has giving up teaching to spend as much time as needed working to secure a permanent home for the Art Machine. She plans exhibits of children's art, which will rotate every two months. She also wants space for children to come and create and exhibit their art.
She said she has made a big financial sacrifice in order to spend as much time as needed to complete this project.
One of the students who is already grateful that she did is Jennifer Lorenzen of Edgewood. She is a senior at Scott High who plans to study fashion design at the University of Cincinnati. Lorenzen won a gold medal for her sculpture called Before Rushmore. The piece has been sent to New York, and she is eager to hear how it fared there.