Art is needed for the community and Congress!

The show must go on! That’s the Congressional Art Competition, that is. Since 1982, more than 650,000 high school students have participated in the event in which a single artwork from each congressional district is selected to hang in the U.S. Congress for an entire year.

With schools across the country closed, there may be some barriers but U.S. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore is encouraging high school - and others feeling inspired - to take their hand at creating.

Last year, dozens of schools across the 5th Congressional District submitted pieces, which resulted in a juried art show in Lansdowne. In March, schools were forced to close their brick-and-mortar doors to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Yet, Scanlon said she and her staff asked, “How can we make this happen?”

“We didn’t want to abandon it,” the congresswoman said. “We want to make sure we’ve got some good artwork out there.”

So, they decided to host the competition online and are encouraging everyone to participate - although only high school students’ works are eligible for the congressional display.

“Everybody’s home right now,” Scanlon said. “Why should it just be high school students? ... Anyone can post on an Instagram page so that’s what we’re doing.”

No artwork is being accepted at the district office. Only pictures of entries are being accepted and must be posted online to Instagram at @StayHomeMakeArtPA5 or other platforms using the hashtag #StayHomeMakeArtPA5.

High school students wanting to enter the Congressional Art Competition, must fill out this form, https://scanlon.house.gov/ services/art-competition. htm, along with submitting a picture of their artwork.

Rules for the competition are that the art pieces must be two dimensional and be no larger than 26 inches high, 26 inches wide and 4 inches deep. No framed piece should weigh more than 15 lbs. Paintings, drawings, collages, prints, mixed media and photographs are acceptable. But, again, only a picture of the work can be submitted for consideration.

Scanlon’s office is encouraging all artists to make art from what they have at home and items that are readily available.

“If there’s an ability for somebody to be creative and spark some joy, that would be lovely,” Scanlon said.