Essay, Series

The Vera List Center for Art and Politics is pleased to announce Jenny Li, a dual degree student at Parsons and Mannes (BFA Illustration / BM Piano Performance), as the first place winner of the 2016-2017 Vera List New School Art Collection Writing Award, and Iván Brave, a Master of Fine Arts student in Creative Writing at the New School for Public Engagement, as the second place winner. This year’s competition called for entrants to write a letter to an artist about one of their works that are displayed in The New School Art Collection.

Jenny Li is a sophomore who is working on a dual degree, a BFA in Illustration and a BM in Piano Performance. Her winning entry examines Kara Walker’s mural Event Horizon and the experience of entering a place that marks a point of no return, which in Jenny’s case was her family’s decision to move to Vancouver from Beijing when she was eight.

Iván Brave will complete his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in 2018. His letter consists of two conversations: one for the public in English and a more intimate dialogue in Spanish, a language he and the artist, José Clemente Orozco, share.

A rotating panel of judges selected the winning entries — with awards ranging from $400 for first place and $200 for second place. The Vera List Center has enjoyed a long history with the U.S. chapter of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) with its shared annual Distinguished Critic Lecture series, which started back in 2007. As part of their award, Li and Brave worked with AICA professional critic Lilly Wei, receiving one-on-one guidance for revising their submissions. Lilly Wei runs the CUE Foundation’s Young Writers Workshop, a program dedicated to mentoring emerging writers and providing the opportunity to work alongside one of AICA’s established art critics.

2016-2017 JURY MEMBERS
Luis Jaramillo, Director of the School of Writing, Assistant Professor of Writing, MFA Creative Writing Program, The New School for Public Engagement
Carin Kuoni, Director/Curator, Vera List Center for Art and Politics
Alexandra Pucciarelli, Sociology Masters Student, NSSR
Silvia Rocciolo, Curator, The New School Art Collection
Lilly Wei, International Association of Art Critics