Calling All Promising Young Artists-WHO INSPIRES YOU?

Calling all Promising Young Artists for the 13th Annual Art Exhibition!
By: Rachel Keough
Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to restrict in person gatherings around the world, the Lucia Bocchino Fund for Promising Young Artists continues to hold their 13th Annual Children’s Art Exhibition in a way that reaches far beyond Somerset Hills.
The theme of the show is “Wonder Women” and will feature portraits, essays, poems, sculptures, collages, and videos of women who have had a positive impact on the lives of the young participants. The exhibition is now accepting new types of media to encourage young artists with all interests to cultivate their artistic abilities and honor the women in their lives that inspire them.
Artwork from youth in pre-K through grade 12 will be accepted through Saturday, May 8, at www.luciabocchinofund.org using Google Forms. The portraits will then be displayed on the website beginning, appropriately, on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 9, 2021. All participants will receive a prize for entry to encourage them in their artistic endeavors.

The online exhibition will have a slideshow and other interactive elements, and an Instagram Live party (@LuciaBocchinoFund) will be streamed to congratulate all the young artists.
Entries have already been received from over 12 far-flung countries such as Belarus, Hong Kong, Iran, Indonesia, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, as well as over 8 US states, including California, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and North Carolina.
The exhibition, usually displayed at the Somerset Hills YMCA, became virtual and global in the spring of 2020, during the onset of the pandemic when restrictions were most stringent. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world in 2020, the Lucia Bocchino Fund made their exhibition virtual and have since garnered a vast community of promising young artists all over the world - last year receiving over 150 submissions from over 25 countries and 15 US states.

The Lucia Bocchino Fund for Promising Young Artists was established in the memory of artist Lucia Bocchino, the mother of Basking Ridge’s Serena Bocchino. The Fund exists to encourage artists in the young stages of their lives in the area of the arts.

“In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic - a period of trials and isolation,” Bocchino, CEO of the Lucia Bocchion Fund states “never has it been more important to remain active in the therapeutic nature of the arts and give thanks for the ‘Wonder Women’ in our lives.”
The Lucia Bocchino Fund exhibition is not only an outlet for creativity, but it is also an opportunity for Promising Young Artists to be a part of an international platform of artists. Bocchino states that “as we’ve been able to expand our reach, this exhibition has become a learning opportunity of other cultures and women around the world that have shaped history.” Throughout the past 12 years of exhibiting artwork from the Somerset Hills area, American heroines (Jane Goddall, Michelle Obama, and Harriet Tubman) have always been displayed; but, now international heroines such as Joy Adamson (Czechoslovankian Naturalist), Maya Plesetskaya (Russian ballet dancer), and Aung San Suu Kyi (Burmese civil rights activist) are represented, as well.

Though the Promising Young Artists hail from different parts of the world and speak different languages, one commonality remains: the majority of submissions are always in homage to the everyday “Wonder Women” in our lives: the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, friends, neighbors, health care heroes, teachers, and police officers. And they deserve the celebration!
Share this opportunity with a promising young artist in your life and check out the Lucia Bocchino Fund for Promising Young Artist’s 13th Annual Exhibition on May 9, 2021 at www.LuciaBocchinoFund.org or @LuciaBocchinoFund on Instagram.