MMI Preparatory School seventh graders Jakob Narrow and John Schwear III received recognition and will have their artwork exhibited as part of the 2017 International Interdependence Hexagon Project competition.
For the competition, which was completed during the 2016-17 school year, Narrow and Schwear competed in the Elementary Division (grades 4-6) in the 2-D category, which indicated a single student worked to create a two-dimensional hexagon. Narrow won the award for Most Effective All-Over Interpretation, while Schwear was an honorable mention selection in the Most Relevant Interdependence Theme category.
The International Interdependence Hexagon Project is a visual arts opportunity for young people ages 4 to 18 worldwide that is based out of Scranton. The annual project asks young people to create art within the infinitely inter-linking shape of a hexagon, a metaphor for interconnectedness. Entrants are asked to create their art in relation to the theme of our interconnectedness and acting interdependently. The symbol of the hexagon was used for the 11th consecutive year as a format to explore ideas about interdependence.
This year’s jurors chose works that exemplify the most creative and relevant responses – both personal and universal – to the many themes of global interdependence and to the optional theme of empathy, which invited creators to visually interpret ways they have acted with empathy.
MMI art instructor Lisa Marie Ferry said, “We are honored to have two MMI Preparatory School students win awards in a worldwide competition. This project was beneficial to the students on so many levels, both inside and outside of the classroom. By completing this project, our students had the opportunity to engage in thought-provoking dialog and art-making that was centered around a theme of interconnectedness and required them to build their creativity and critical thinking skills.”
The completed hexagons will be assembled into one art piece that will be displayed throughout September at STEAMworks, on the first floor of The Marketplace Mall at Steamtown, located at 600 Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton. More than 600 works of art from communities and young people around the United States and the world will be displayed during the exhibition.
A special recognition program will be held at STEAMworks on Sunday, Sept. 10 beginning at 2 p.m. during which all recognized students and their teachers will receive certificates and the top three works in each of the judging categories will receive awards.
Interdependence Day was launched in Philadelphia on September 12, 2003, as a post-9/11 symbol of regeneration, as a time to reflect on the tragedy of worldwide incidents of terror, and as a way to acknowledge the inevitability and significance of interdependence in our time and set out to constructively and culturally build a civil, global society.
Jakob Narrow is the son of Howard and Marie Narrow of Hazleton and John Schwear is the son of John and Lisa Schwear of Sugarloaf.
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