Visual Art Education Scholarship Competition & Exhibition
2023 WINNERS
The Tarrant County College Southeast Campus Art Program graciously hosted the On the Spectrum Foundation's "Visual Art Education Scholarship Competition & Exhibition" within the "On the Spectrum: An insightful glance into the disposition of the Neurodivergent, as told through the vehicle of vision" Exhibition. This two-person exhibition featured the work of Josh Niccolai-Belfi (OTSF Board Member) and John Truitt (OTSF Founder). Their artwork reflects their lived experiences as neurodivergent artists. This exhibition features Truitt’s abstract paintings and Niccolai-Belfi’s paintings and relief sculptures. The OTSF would like to extend a special thanks to Penelope Bisbee, Art Curator and Instructional Assistant for Art on the TCC Southeast Campus.
The contest was open to Neurodivergent artists (Autism/ASD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Disnomia, Dysgraphia, Hyperlexia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Epilepsy, Tourette Syndrome, etc.) that are currently enrolled in a higher education institution in Tarrant County, Texas.
From the entries, the OTSF Board of Directors decided which works were included in the Exhibition.
You can view all of the selected works by clicking here. (Photography by Josh Niccolai-Belfi)
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First Place ($250) and Second Place ($100) were voted on by the OTSF's Board of Directors. Viewer's Choice ($50) was determined by audience participation during the "On the Spectrum" Exhibition Opening Reception on March 23, 2023.
The OTSF would like to sincerely thank all of the students who submitted work for sharing their talent, artistry, and experiences with our community.
FIRST PLACE
Samuel Pearson
Anxiety, 2023
"The painting uses acrylic paint, abstract lines and violent brush strokes to depict a sense of anxiety and chaos that surrounds the subjects head. The subject expression shows a yearning to be free from anxiety and to live without the burden of fear, worry, and unfounded chaos that comes with anxiety."
SECOND PLACE (tie)
Peyton Lea
Buttons, 2023
"Oil painting, girl holding a cat stuffed animal, with blue buttons for eyes."
Omar Collazo
Can’t Hold Onto a Ghost, 2023
"The painting depicts the struggle of fleeing from an emotional attachment being a memory or person, the heart in the center of the head represents that love is rather a process or communication and trusting those mentally the eye on the chest represents love at first sight though the eye being gray represents blindness because even though there is beauty in a person not all which is beautiful is actually beautiful, the fire in the background represents the desire to forget the past to move forward though the teleport in the background shoots a beam(memory) into the mind to remember the last portion before becoming a memory to forget, the main attraction being the character in the center being melted represents anyone the melting into the pool of colorful spheres is confusion confused to whether go forward or to stay."
VIEWER'S CHOICE (tie)
Elizabeth "Nico" Sisk
Perception, 2021
"A rainbow ombre from top to bottom broken up diagonally by intermittent white lines. In the foreground, there is a tree on the top left with a swing, on the top right is a second tree, and in the top middle, a girl and a loose balloon. The bottom half is a reflection in water."
Jordan Gosnell
Only So Far, 2021
"A painting depicting two angels dragging a critically wounded man on the ground. It symbolizes the fact that medication can keep you going with good intention, but it alone cannot truly heal."