East Providence Schools Represent in Providence Art Competition

Hannah Wroblinski stood by her penciled piece, Steam Punk, with her proud parents looking on. Wroblinski was one of ten students to have her work featured in Providence's Central Congregational Church High School Art Competition.

"In the Victorian era, people thought the future would be powered by steam," Wroblinski said, referring to her rendering of a steam powered carousel horse. "I looked at things today that are powered by electricity and put myself in the frame of mind of someone who lived in that time. What would the expect this to look like?"

Wroblinski, who lives in Riverside, represented one of the three East Providence schools involved in the competition. Aside from East Providence High School, the event featured submissions from and . 

Providence Schools included Moses Brown, The Wheeler School and the Lincoln School.

East Providence schools took home many honors, with Best in Show going to Morgan Lake of St. Mary Academy-Bay View Bay View for her wire sculpture Frilled Neck Lizard, which was inspired by her Australian roots. A string of students from all three participating East Providence schools received honorable mentions and committee citations and Citizen Citations from the Lieutenant Gov. Elizabeth Roberts.

Judith Jamieson, a former Dean at Providence College and head of the Central Congregational Church's art committee, made positive observations about the art coming out of East Providence's schools.

"[East Providence High School] has expanded not only in number of submissions but quality of submissions, also. It's been wonderful to see." she said.

When asked if any artistic differences existed between the submissions of the three East Providence schools, Jamieson noted that "a lot of photography was used at PCD, more than any other."

Sunday's gallery and presentation marked the third annual competition hosted by the Providence Church. The first two years were inspired by Earth Day and required students to submit art on the theme, "Greening Up Rhode Island." Unlike previous years, students were able to submit work on whatever they chose this year.

"With the environmental theme, there was a lot of stretching, in terms of what would pass," Jamieson said. "After coming across so much talent, we decided to allow for open submissions."

Out of the schools that participated, East Providence High School was the only public school to accept the invitation to compete, something not lost on the school's Visual Art Department head, Jennifer Cahoon.

Cahoon drew comparisons between the high school's demographics and the type of art produced.

"We're diverse, we're different," she said. "We have a wider stratification of students, a wider range of socioeconomic realities; and therefore, it's a wider array of work."

Cahoon took pride in the fact that much of what East Providence High School submitted was viewed as "non-traditional."

"We haven't had a traditional budget, so that's probably part of it," she said.

Though she praised principal Janet Sheehan, saying "she has always stood behind our department," Cahoon noted the challenges that come with teaching art in any public school.

"We can't just order a ton of acrylics and paint brushes whenever we want," she said. "We've had to get more creative, and it's focused us. Necessity is the mother of invention."