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Visual Arts Scholarship Competition

Your future is your design, and we’re here to help you along the way with a Thea visual arts scholarship!

 

Each year, artists from all across Arkansas submit their work for consideration from our team of qualified judges, who select 10 winners of scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $3,000. 

Teachers Notice
In Classroom Zoom Seminar on Thea Scholarships
presented by Paul Leopoulos

  • Discussion of Six Scholarship Categories
  • Student and Teacher Questions Answered
  • Seminar Only 30 Minutes
  • Seminars are Free of Charge
  • Sign up Here

SENIOR SCHOLARSHIPS

ONLINE REGISTRATION and UPLOAD DEADLINE

November 1, 2023

1st Place – $10,000

2nd Place – $9,000

3rd Place – $8,000

4th Place – $7,000

5th Place -  $6,000

6th – 10th Places – $3,000

Competition Update: Thea's 2023 Visual Arts Scholarship Competition Is Online-Only!

Please DO NOT mail in or drop off your work at Thea Foundation. 

See art submission details below 

1st Place – $4,000

2nd Place – $3,500

5th – 10th Places – $2,000

3rd Place – $3,000

4th Place – $2,500

Instructions

Individual, and beautiful.

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:

Thea Foundation's 2023 Theme:

Signing up for the visual arts competition is a two step process. The first step is to Register and the second step is to Upload the photo of your entry.  (see the two buttons at the end of this section.) 

After Registering to Compete: The photo of your entry must be uploaded to the designated location (see link below) for Thea Foundation's 2023 Visual Arts Scholarship Competition. A 2-D work should only be submitted with ONE photo for consideration. A 3-D work should be submitted with 2-3 photos for consideration. A short video may also be submitted in conjunction with photos for a 3-D work. All students are required to title their submitted file(s) with a particular format (see below).

One entry per student is accepted.

Judging Process

Your entry will be judged on the following criterion:

Artist Statement

A statement explaining your work and how it interprets the theme must be submitted with your online application.

Interpretation of Theme

Is the artwork consistent with the art contest theme? Does the project clearly represent the student’s interpretation of the theme to the viewer? The title and artist statement provided should be considered in making this judgment. This year's theme is "Individual, and beautiful." 

Originality

Do the concepts/ideas/format of the artwork seem new and original?

Design

How well does the work represent or deconstruct the medium to which it belongs? Please consider all elements of design including: composition, visual balance, color, finish, and overall impression.

Categories of Art

2D

Printmaking - The process of making original prints by pressing an inked block or plate onto a receptive support surface, typically paper. Techniques include relief, intaglio, and planographic. 

Photography - A 20th century medium by which the artist captures pictorial images on film or a digital sensor, to be later printed via darkroom or digital printer. Renderings of computer animation do not fall under this category. 

Painting - The art of painting consists of the arrangement of shapes, lines, colors, tones and textures on a two-dimensional surface, thus creating an aesthetic image. Mediums of painting include encaustic, oil, acrylic, fresco, tempera, watercolors and gouache.

Drawing - Drawing may be defined as the linear realization of visual objects, concepts, and emotions, including symbols and even abstract forms. Mediums include pen and ink, charcoal, chalks, pastels, metalpoint, silverpoint, graphite point, colored crayons, as well as graver, burin or etching needle for incised types of drawing.

Mixed Media - A composition made up of a variety of assorted materials - typically, printed matter like newspaper clippings, photographs, pieces of graphic or digital art, oddments of textile or fabric, and perhaps solid objects - all glued to a sheet of paper or board or canvas.

 

3D

Sculpture - Sculpture is a three-dimensional work of plastic art created either by (1) Carving - in stone, marble, wood, ivory, bone; (2) modeling - from wax or clay, after which it may be cast in bronze. 

Ceramics - A type of plastic art, ceramics refers to items made from clay and baked in a kiln.

Assemblage / Appropriated - A contemporary form of sculpture, comparable to collage, in which a work of art is built up or "assembled" from 3-D materials - typically "found" objects.

Specifications of Entries

2D

All works must be mounted. Canvas entries do not have to be matted and should not be framed.

Max image size is 18" x 24"

3D

Max size 3' x 3' x 3' (max height not including pedestal height if used)

File Upload Requirements 

The photos of art must be uploaded to the designated location for Thea Foundation's 2022 Visual Arts Scholarship Competition. (See button below)

 

2D work should be submitted with ONE photo for consideration.

 

3D work should be submitted with 2-3 photos showing different angles for consideration. A short video may also be submitted in conjunction with photos for a 3-D entry.  

Upload Your Entry and Headshot:

Deadline: November 1, 2023

2D Upload

You may upload 1 photo (make sure it is high res and a close-up)

e.g.   File Name: entry.jpg

                             OR

3D Upload

You may upload up to 3 photos (make sure it is high res and a close-up)

e.g.   File Name Photo Entries: 

           entry3D1.jpg
           entry
3D2.jpg
           
entry3D3.jpg

You may upload 1 video (May be up to 1 min. in length)

e.g.    Video File Name: entry3dV1.mov or entry3dV1.mp4

               AND

  

Student Headshot Upload

A professional photo is not required

e.g.    Headshot File Name: headshot.jpg

You MUST RegiSter & Upload
            Deadline: November 1, 2023

Sign-up Steps

Step 1  To register click on the Registration button and complete the form.

Step 2  To upload your entry click on Upload Entries to upload your file(s).

DON'T FORGET TO DO BOTH OF THESE THINGS. YOU WILL NOT BE ENTERED IF YOU OMIT ONE OF THESE STEPS

Rules & Guidelines
Rules and Eligibility:

Before you register, be sure you FULLY READ the qualifications below and be sure that you’re eligible:

By visiting this page you understand that this information has been available to you starting April 1, 2023, and that failure to read this information or register for a scholarship before the registration deadline is to no fault of the Thea Foundation. The Thea Foundation makes every attempt possible within its means to notify students, parents, teachers, counselors, and the general public of the availability of its scholarship competitions and will not allow late registration predicated on the notion that an individual party was not aware of the information regarding deadlines. 

 

Registering for a Thea Foundation Scholarship Competition requires students to register online via a google form. Students may only register through the specific portal that the Foundation has created for each scholarship competition. Thea staff will not register students for scholarship competitions.

 

The Foundation recognizes that issues may arise during the registration process either from faulty equipment, user error, or issues beyond the control of either the registrant or the Foundation. The Foundation makes available the registration for their scholarship competitions many months in advance to provide time to those having technical difficulties during the registering process.

Only high school seniors enrolled in either public, private or home schools in Arkansas are eligible to register for a Thea Foundation Scholarship Competition.  A high school senior means any student who is currently completing the 12th grade in public or private school or any home school student who lists the 11th grade as their last grade level completed on their Notice of Intent to Home School on file with the Arkansas Department of Education for the current school year.

To view the 2019 scholarship winning art along with each artist's statement, visit our blog.

The gallery below is a sample of art created by our 2020 winners.

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