The Ocean Awareness Contest’s Visual Arts Category Now Has Two Sub-Categories – Handcrafted and Digital

February 28, 2024

By Linda Cabot, Founder & President of Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs

There is something about getting your hands dirty that feels just right. When it comes to art-making, it goes beyond getting the hard work done – it means touching the clay, pigments, and other materials that artists work with. Literally, it means being physically close with your art and not being separated from it by a screen.

As an encaustic and oil painter, I enjoy leaving the studio with reminders of the creative process. I will often have a stained finger or two, and small patches of smooth wax glistening on my hands. My artist smock wears the colors of oil paint and smells of beeswax and turpentine. Cleaning up my artist’s space can be a chore, yet I love this tactile and multisensory intimacy with my art-making.

This year for our Ocean Awareness Contest, we decided to separate our Visual Arts category into two sub-groups: Handcrafted and Digital. We are excited to celebrate the distinctions between these categories. There is a dynamic and growing field of digital art creation with software programs like Procreate, Adobe Suite, Corel, Clip Studio, Canva, and more. These programs are often the foundational tools used by graphic designers, architects, content creators, animators, and many others. Learning how to utilize these programs is crucial for many careers today, and we encourage teens to experiment and master these digital skills. Previous students’ digital submissions have been incredibly engaging and compelling, and we look forward to seeing all the entries in the 2024 Visual Art: Digital category.

Student handcrafted artworks can be equally fascinating and inventive. We are eager to see entries that include these more traditional mediums like sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, film photography, sewing, and more. We appreciate the tangible nature of these artworks, where there is complexity in texture, depth, and weight. We recognize this type of palpable artmaking experience as equally relevant, meaningful, and educational.

Visit Bow Seat’s “How to Enter” webpage for more details about the Contest’s two Visual Arts sub-categories. We plan to award winners in each sub-category, and encourage students to submit in the sub-category that resonates most with them.