Awards and Grants News
2008 Gallery
Elementary school art teacher wins Best in Show in 44th annual MEA/MAEA purchase exhibition
Carolyn Steenland’s “Cosmos,” a fused glass panel, won Best in Show in the 44th annual MEA/Michigan Art Education Association Art Acquisitions Purchase Exhibition.
Art show juror Marianna Bagge examines entries
Seventy-five pieces, selected from 146 entries in the juried show, are on display at MEA headquarters in East Lansing through April 28. The show is open to the public weekdays during regular business hours.
Steenland, an art teacher at MacNaughton Elementary, a K-3 school in Howard City, said she was excited to learn that Cosmos earned top honors.
“This is especially humbling when you see and admire the work that teachers and Michigan Art Education Association members are producing for the show,” she said.
Marianna Bagge, the art show juror from the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Denver, called Steenland’s work unique and original.
“The harmony of design and patterns and varied colors are interesting,” Bagge said. “Its message is expressive. I have seen many pieces of glass art, but this one has a life and a message of its own.”
Steenland’s glass pieces begin with sketches. It wasn’t until after she began building Cosmos that she decided to include a human-like figure coming out of the bowels of Earth into space. “Until that figure was born, I wasn’t happy with the piece—it wasn’t speaking to me in an interesting way,” she said.
Steenland also was moved when her first-grade art students cheered her when the principal announced their teacher won the Best in Show honor. “I am so grateful to teach in a district (Tri County Area Schools) that values art education,” she said.
Ann Arbor’s Jack Thompson won the Michigan Art Education Association Purchase Award for Brilliant Sky, a watercolor/ink/acrylic piece. This year’s award was in honor of Heidi Irvine-Mattarellamicki, a Holt middle school teacher, who was named MAEA Art Educator of the Year.
Art Acquisitions Committee
Art Show Juror: Marianna Bagge (Bio)
Committee Chairperson: Marta LeRoy (2008-Reg 4)
Committee Members:
Margaret Glover (2010-Reg 15)
Bonita Harvey (2009-Reg 9)
Kathy Kurtis Daniels (2009- Reg 11)
Otto Laabs (2008-MEA-Retired)
Lynda Min (2008-Reg 7)
Carolyn Norris-Deyell (2008-Reg 7)
Heidi Posh (2009-Reg 7)
Nicole Rethamel (2008-Reg 9)
Cynthia Smith (2009-Reg 12)
Rebecca Smith (2010-Reg 2)
Ron Sweet (2009-Reg 13)
Erin Worden (2008-Reg 7)
Julius Kusey, MAEA Liaison
Shelli Long, MEA Staff Liaison
For additional information, please contact:
Shelli Long, Staff Liaison MEA Art Acquisitions Committee Michigan Art Education Association 1216 Kendale Blvd. East Lansing, MI 48823 517.332.6551, Ext. 5488 slong@mea.org