Osseo Senior High School alumna, Sharn Brar, debuted her photography at Carnegie Hall in New York City in June as a part of the Scholastic Art Awards program. Her piece, See Me, a black-and-white portrait of Maryan Farah, a fellow student at Osseo Senior High School, was awarded the National Gold Medal from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
“The portrait is a result of a class portraiture project,” says Jennifer Peterson-Cramer, Brar’s art instructor at Osseo Senior High School. “I was so moved by the portrait. I encouraged her to enter the competition. Participating in art competitions allows students to show their talent to a wider audience and be validated and recognized for their creative skills.”
Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards encourages teenagers to explore their creativity through painting, drawing, writing or photography. (Notable alumni of the project include author Stephen King and visual artist Andy Warhol.) Brar was among 25 other students in the Osseo area to receive recognition for their work, and she rose above more than 260,000 other entries nationwide. Honors were awarded to those who exemplified Scholastic’s core values pertaining to originality, the emergence of personal voice, vision and technical skill.
