New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks! virtual gallery showcases teen artists

NEW BEDFORD — New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks! announces the annual Teen Artist Internship Program's art exhibition is now available online.

Visitors of the virtual gallery will experience art created students and mentors, highlighting their collaborative efforts with videos featuring insights into their work and artistic process.

Now in its 16th year, the Teen Artist Internship Program is an opportunity for young, talented, artists from local schools to connect and gain hands-on mentorship from established, professional artists from Greater New Bedford.

The artist mentors introduce their students to other artists and help connect them with the art community they aspire to join. Acceptance into the free program, which draws students from various SouthCoast schools, is competitive, and teens must submit an application, essay, and recommendation. Each year, the program culminates in an exhibition of work by the interns and their mentors.

Through multiple engagements with the teens in their own studio space, the artist mentors are able to guide and instruct the students in the technical and professional aspects of creating and exhibiting art, such as learning how to frame and hang their work in a gallery setting. In addition, the mentors are able to expose the teens to new materials and processes, such as printmaking, oil painting, or sculpture that they may not have access to through other means. Along with the opportunity to try new media and techniques and to sharpen their art skills, the teens also learn about day-to-day studio practice and the self-discipline being an artist requires.

This year’s interns and mentors are Anna Amarkhanian, Hannah Charron, Jakiya Genereux, Brontë Girard, Fiona Marques, Lillian Taylor, Lilah Wilkinson, Melissa Souza, Ryan Santos, Corrinn Jusell, Roy Rossow, Jay Ryan, Devin McLaughlin, Judith Klein, Beverly Carter, and Madison Moreno.

"This process revealed to me that there’s much more to a professional artist’s life than just painting after painting or sculpture after sculpture," said Marques, a junior at Fairhaven High School in a press release.

Check out the Teen Artist Internship Program exhibition online at newbedfordart.org/TAIP.

The 2020 program is supported in part by District Attorney's Office Discretionary Fund and by the following Local Cultural Councils: Acushnet, Fairhaven, Freetown, New Bedford and Rochester which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.