Student’s art a winner in 2020 Congressional Art Competition
Moli Ma is making her mark at St. Luke’s School, and soon on the United States Capitol.
At St. Luke’s, where she is a rising senior, Ma works in theater tech, is co-founder of the Feminist Club, co-president of the SLS Asian Affinity Group, and involved in environmental groups, among other things.
She is now a winner in Connecticut’s Fourth District in the 2020 Congressional Art Competition, her work “Hanna” chosen to be displayed in the Capitol for one year.
“I was so excited,” Ma said. “I never expected to actually win.”
In prior years, Ma created work specifically for the annual competition.
“This year I entered a work I had done,” she said.
The painting depicts her best friend, Hanna Gjetaj, a Stamford
High School student who will also be a senior.
“I just always really kind of liked it,” Ma said. “I was gong to enter another but it was too tall.”
Leaving her the chance to have her best friend possibly be part of her Capitol experience.
“It meant a lot to me,” Ma said, “so I’m glad I made the decision, even though it was forced.”
Nearly 16, Ma said she has drawn since she was young.
“I think everybody kind of draws a little bit when they’re little,” she said. “I just never stopped.”
Now she has a portfolio at https://sites.google.com/view/molima.
She attended Scofield Magnet
School in Stamford, then started at St. Luke’s as a freshman.
Her recent subjects have included “a lot of stuff about family, just kind of my life and what I see every day.”
“I’m starting a series with friends about being a teenager in a small town,” Ma said. “The painting that is going to D.C. is kindof the beginning of that.”
Traditionally, winners in the competition have traveled with a parent to Washington to see their works on display. With Coronavirus, that trip is not guaranteed.
College looms after next summer. Ma has not finalized plans.
“Probably art alongside something else,” she said, “but art is not going to stop.”
“I think everybody kind of draws a little bit when they’re little. I just never stopped.” Moli Ma