EOD launches 2024 exhibition
Embracing Our Differences opens its 21st anniversary exhibition with a Grand Opening Celebration on Jan. 21 from noon to 3 p.m. at Bayfront Park in downtown Sarasota. The free event, which features three performances by Jah Movement, will recognize Best-inShow winners and many of the artists and writers who had their works selected for display. Kid-friendly activities will be hosted by The Ringling, Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College, CreArte Latino, Van Wezel, Asolo Rep, ALSO Youth, and the Suncoast Campaign for Grade Level Reading.
Sarah Werthimer, EOD’s executive director, said this year’s response to the call for artwork and inspirational quotations included 16,604 entries from 125 countries and 44 states. Students from 584 schools around the world submitted artwork or quotations to the juried exhibit. Awards for artwork are given for “Best-in-Show Adult,” “Best-in-Show Student,” and “People’s Choice” categories – the last chosen by visitors to the exhibit.
The 2024 winners:
· Best-in-Show Adult artwork: Samantha Dennis from Woodbridge in Ontario, Canada, for “’Hand’le with Care,” which shows hands of different colors and abilities cradling beams of light that are shaped as a heart.
· Best-in-Show Student artwork: Sylvia Tirado, an 11th grader at Wycombe Abbey School in High Wycombe, United Kingdom, for “Are My Roots Showing?” which depicts a young woman of color examining her dyed blond hair for signs of her true hair color.
· Best-in-Show Adult quotation: “I stand against hatred with love, prejudice with acceptance, and ignorance with knowledge,” by Md. Faisal Arefin from Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
· Best-in-Show Student quotation: “Spread kindness like the world depends on it ... because it does,” by Jessie Ochsendorf, a 7th grader at Pine View School in Osprey. Her teacher is Susy Grandusky.
Adult art winners each receive $2,000 and students receive $2,000 that they split with their school’s art program. Awards are also given for original quotations: Adult winners receive $2,000 and students receive $2,000 (split with their school’s English Language Arts program).
For more information and to see all of the works in the 2024 exhibit, visit the online gallery at embracingourdifferences.org. The exhibit, which includes a visit to St. Petersburg’s Poynter Park (March 2-31), will run through April 14.
The opening celebration will also offer Big Blue Grilled Cheese Company, El Indio Tacos y Snacks, and Krewe Du Snoball food trucks.
While EOD is best known for its annual art exhibitions, its educational initiatives continue all year long, including professional development for educators, reading days, unity days, and other learning programs and events.
“These ongoing arts education programs represent the most important aspect of our efforts,” Wertheimer said. “We’re reaching and impacting the lives of thousands of students and teachers, both locally and around the world.”