PSWC Scholarships 2023

The PSWC Art Scholarship Program allows us to fulfill part of our mission to promote education in the arts–especially pastels

Each year, we solicit high school art teachers, college art departments, statewide arts organizations and our members to help us find talented, dedicated students interested in pursuing a career in art at a junior or four-year college or university, or an accredited art school.

Applicants who are planning to pursue a career in arts submit a digital portfolio and letters of recommendation by the annual deadline of April 15. PSWC Board members review applications and select winners. This was a banner year as we had 35 applicants from 18 different states and one from an international student! Applicants were planning to pursue a variety of art-related careers such as art educator, animator, illustrator, graphic novelist, architect, fine art curator, and art therapist. There were quite a few applicants who submitted very impressive portfolios, and many had outstanding letters of recommendation. Our finalists rose above the others in both categories. Our congratulations go to the 2023 Scholarship recipients, Natalie Hayes from East Rockaway, New York and Tenley Douglass from Clemmons, North Carolina.

Natalie is a senior at East Rockaway Junior Senior High. She will be attending School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the fall. SAIC has a consistent ranking among the top graduate fine arts programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

Natalie took first place in the 2021 Nassau County High School Juried Competition and took home an Award of Excellence from the Long Island Art League last year. She also earned a national gold medal in the 2022 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She is a National Honor Society Art Club member, won the 2021 Scholastic Summer Scholarship Award, the 2022 Renzo & Lynette Bianchi Scholarship Award and took first place in the Babylon Citizens Council on the Arts’ 32nd Annual Judged Art Show.

Natalie placed first in the 2022 Congressional Art Competition. Her artwork will hang in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. for a period of one year. Natalie’s goal is to be a working artist and to teach art to young children.

Tenley is a senior at West Forsyth High School, where she has taken 4 years of honors level art. She will be attending University of North Carolina, Greensboro in the fall, majoring in Art.

Tenley was awarded four gold keys, five silver keys and three honorable mentions in the 2023 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She also won gold and silver keys in 2022 and 2021. She was featured in a Kappen Education Journal, awarded a People’s Choice Award and Grand Prize Award at Artizens 2022, presented at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, was accepted into the National Art Honor Society 2022 Juried Art Exhibition, and was a Grand Prize Winner in the 2021 Emerging Artists Invitational at High Point University’s Sechrest Gallery. Tenley also serves as President of the National Art Honor Society.

Tenley’s goal is to become a successful artist and work for a large animation company such as Disney or Pixar. Natalie and Tenley will each have a $2000 award sent to their respective colleges to offset their costs in the coming school year.

If you know of any high school seniors or college students who are eligible and might benefit from the PSWC Scholarship, please direct them to the Scholarship page on our website: https://pswc.ws/ art-scholarship/ for more information.