29th Annual Young Artist Competition

Lexington Sister Cities 29th Annual Young Artist Competition and Showcase

Each year, the John Irvin Central Bank Galleries and the Lexington Sister Cities Commission sponsor the Sister Cities Young Artist Competition and Showcase.  The contest is open to all Lexington students aged 13-18.

Sister Cities International aims to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation – one individual, one community at a time.  This year’s theme “We’re Going Places” showcases the importance of travel and exchange in achieving peace.  Artists were encouraged to draw inspiration from their experiences with Sister Cities, travel, exchange, international friendships, and their goals to present their vision of where the future will lead. 

Alana Bloomfield, a Sayre School student, was selected as the 2017 winner of the 29th Annual Sister Cities Young Artist Competition for her piece "Globe Trotting".  Alana was presented $250 for 1st place from Central Bank.

The second place winner was Lafayette student Tuesday Hadden for her piece "A movement that cannot be contained".  Tuesday was awarded $150 for second place from Central Bank.

Third place was awarded to Haley Buchanan of Lafayette for her piece "Connected".  Haley was awarded $100 from Central Bank for third place.

In addition to these prizes, the teacher of the winning artist, Bill Berryman of Sayre School, received $250 from Lexington Sister Cities to be used for class projects.

All winners received their prizes at a reception held at Central Bank on Friday, February 3rd, 2017.

Councilmember and Sister Cities Commission chairman Bill Farmer presented the winning students and teacher with their prizes, accompanied by Patricia Wheatley of Central Bank and Kay Sargent.  

Alana Bloomfield's first place artwork will be submitted to the worldwide Sister Cities International competition at their annual conference being held in Virginia Beach, VA from July 13-16, 2017.  Two winners are selected in the international competition; one US piece and one international piece.  Each winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize.  Ten finalists are selected to participate in a worldwide traveling exhibit for Sister Cities International.

All entries in the local competition will be on display at the John Irvin Gallery at Central Bank until February 24th, 2017.

There were 53 entries from 6 different schools in the contest this year.  Thanks to all the artists and teachers that participated in the showcase this year!

Alana Bloomfield, "Globe Trotting", Sayre School
1st Place

Tuesday Hadden, "A movement that cannot be contained", Lafayette
2nd Place

Haley Buchanan, "Connected", Lafayette
3rd Place

Nathan Hampton, "The 7 Wonders", Lafayette

Madeline Young, "Exist Closer", Lafayette

Tamara Matthews, "Through My Shoes", Bryan Station

Amaya Agard, "Dancing Around the World", Tates Creek Middle School

Emma Campbell, "One Step Forward", Tates Creek Middle School

Emily Wang, "Animal Travel for Bright Hopes", Tates Creek Middle School

Samone Conner, "The Journey Up", Tates Creek Middle School

Naomi Raven Emrick, "Even an Enemy Can Become a Friend", Tates Creek Middle School

Marleni Carbajal, "Flags Among the Fog", Bryan Station

Joshua Clem, "Path to Success", Lafayette

Hunter Hart, "Global Communication", Lafayette

Hannah Wang, "Paper Planes", Dunbar

Keith Mays, "Sister Cities", Lafayette

Anna Marie Gilligan, "Equestrian Equality", Henry Clay

Maggie Dostart, "Growing Up", Dunbar

Csanad Hegyi, "Walking Places", Lafayette

Sophia Carlton, "Radiant Culture", Lafayette

Daphne Shimfessel, "Seeing the Beauty of the Race", Lafayette

Raine Chen, "Back for Now", Lafayette

Shubh Patel, "Untitled", Lafayette

Magnolia Cornett, "Flight", Lafayette

Alex Toney, "Great Leap", Lafayette

Madeline Nunley, "The Places You'll Go", Lafayette

Kevyn Flores, "Cloudy Thoughts of the Past", Bryan Station

Kristen Griffith, "Flag City", Lafayette

Justin Kirk, "Sketchbook", Lafayette

Camden Hauck, "The Bridge", Lafayette

Rachael Carr, "Butterflies", Bryan Station

Carmen Coleman, "Untitled", Bryan Station

Grace Cook, "City Visit", Lafayette

Meilin Scanish, "River Valley", Dunbar

Anthony Asbury, "Break Through", Bryan Station

Brittany (Angel) Kiser, "Peace Throughout all Galaxies", Lafayette

David Wager, "Going Places", Lafayette

Nancy Nolasco, "Take Me Away", Bryan Station

Monica Lizbeth Sanchez Cruz, "Jumping to my Future", Bryan Station

Ryan Crowley, "A Trot in the Park", Lafayette

Teresa Montejo, "Going Places", Dunbar

Jordan Clark, "We're Going Places from Kentucky", Dunbar

Jessica Lynn Harrison, "Horse with Flags", Bryan Station

Senina Liu, "Together as One", Lafayette

Yuhay Zhu, "Horses of the World", Lafayette

Marshall Crouch, "Fake Flight", Lafayette

Laura Blair Donaldson, "Love Abroad", Henry Clay

Selena Martinez, "Travel the World", Lafayette

Matthew Kartzw, "Drawing 2", Lafayette

Elouise Betts, "Reflect", Lafayette

Lilly Pendley, "Together We Grow", Lafayette

Conner Stevenson, "Together in Shadows", Lafayette

Meggan Huynh, "Round  the World", Lafayette

My Internship at Darley: The Summer of a Lifetime

Enjoy the following blog feature from our 2016 Equine Student Summer Internship participant from Maynooth University in County Kildare, Ireland - Emma Coleman.

My Internship at Darley: The Summer of a Lifetime

I remember so clearly finding out I had the opportunity to carry out my summer work placement in Kentucky. To say I was excitement was an understatement. Horses have been a huge part of my life since a young age and to be able to spend three months in the horse capital of the world is quite simply a dream.

After a long day of travelling from Dublin to Washington, and then onto Lexington I was exhausted upon arriving at my house for the summer on James Lane farm. My friend Lucy had traveled the day before me and it was as if we had not seen each other in months from the hugs and kisses we exchanged when I jumped into her room.

 I did not have much time to recover from my jet lag as it was an early 7am rise the next morning to make it to a day of meetings at the University of Kentucky with regards to our internship and visas. I instantly got a feel for how close everything was to in the city. Keeneland, Fasig Tipton, all the top studs and veterinary practices no more than a 20-minute drive from one another.

6.30am: My alarm for the next 3 months. While my friends back home in Dublin spent their summer travelling around Europe, I was set for a summer of early mornings, long working days and one day off a week, a Tuesday…. However, as demanding and tiring as it sounds it is safe to say I had the time of my life. The whole team at Jonabell Farm looked after me so well and helped me get used to the daily routine with the mares and foals. I worked in barn three along with Luis and Jose. Not only did my knowledge on the racing industry expand so did my very limited vocabulary of Spanish.

I got used to the working day very quickly and within the first 10 days I knew exactly what I was doing from the second I arrived at the barn to the last minute my lift arrived to drop me home. The first of my daily chores involved bringing the mares and foals in for breakfast. After they had munched away on their morning feed we then went around checking their temperatures and picking out their feet. The afternoon consisted of the heavier work with 13 beds to muck out, hay, water and the whole barn to clean. The standard of the stud was truly incredible to see. I never got bored of the beautiful scenery surrounding me, the freshly cut grass and the colorful flower beds. My favorite part of the week was when the Vet came to do the weekly check up on the mares and he talked me through each of their scans.

Being in the heart of Kentucky there is so much to see and do and having only one day off a week we certainly made good use of our free time. Barton, who worked at Lexington Sister Cities, was our lifesaver! He brought us anywhere we wanted to go, took us to anything we wanted to see and helped us to do our weekly grocery shop, the most important activity of the week! We got to visit Kentucky Horse Park, Churchill Downs, Fasig Tipton, Keeneland, see Coldplay perform in Louisville, spend the day at a theme park, visit American Pharoah at Ashford Stud and walk through the stunning scenery at Red River Gorge.

I can’t thank Lexington Sister Cities and Godolphin enough for allowing me to complete my internship in Lexington. This experience really broadened my horizons and gave me a strong understanding of the importance of the thoroughbred industry to Kentucky. It surpassed

all my expectations and I am positive I will return in the near future to pursue my dream of a career in the thoroughbred industry. 

#GivingTuesday - How this will benefit our program

 How your #GivingTuesday donation can help our program

#GivingTuesday will be here tomorrow.  With money raised from #GivingTuesday, Lexington Sister Cities will be able to provide students and teachers with more opportunities to participate and benefit from our student exchange programs.  But what does that mean?  How will your donation benefit our programs?

We'd like to show you how.

Your donation can help to provide scholarships for students to participate in our student exchange programs.  

Lexington Sister Cities offers financial scholarships for students for each of our student exchange program.  These scholarships are need-based only and are not given out for academic reasons or other merits.

Your donation can help to provide opportunities for teacher to teacher exchanges.  

For the past 3 years, a teacher from Locust Trace AgriScience School has chaperoned our Shinhidaka Student Exchange as an exchange with the Shizunai Agriculture School.  Teachers and students from each school are able to meet, exchange topics and ideas, and further an educational relationship between the two schools.

Students making pancakes at Shizunai Agriculture School.

Locust Trace teacher Kathleen Magsam learning calligraphy while in Shinhidaka.  

Your donation can help to provide tour and activity opportunities for students visiting Lexington. 

The 2016 Lexington-Newmarket Student Exchange group visit Bi-Water Farm and pick pumpkins.

Your donation can be part of a life-changing experience.  

"Best experience of my life both as a student and as an adult." - Amy Shropshire

"We (both children and family) were positively impacted by the Sister Cities Student Exchange Program and feel we have expanded our family." - Amber Colley, Shinhidaka Student Exchange 2013, County Kildare Student Exchange 2014

"I can, without a doubt, say that Sister Cities has changed my life for the better." - Mariah Mowbray, Shinhidaka Student Exchange 2010, County Kildare Student Exchange 2011, Newmarket Student Exchange 2012

"All the programs I participated in with Sister Cities have changed the direction of my life." - Barton Lynch, Deauville Student Exchange 2010, Calvados Internship 2013, Deauville Teaching Assistant 2016-2017

"I left [France] with lifelong memories and several new friends.  I still talk to some of my friends regularly, and I plan on returning to France to see them again.  This exchange has given me 14 reasons to keep studying French; they each live in Deauville, France." - Dustin Summers, Deauville Student Exchange 2016

"The Shinhidaka student exchange has been an impactful experience, and one that I will never forget.  it gave me new found confidence in myself and helped me make amazing connections with American and Japanese students." - Caili Harris, Shinhidaka Student Exchange 2016

"This was one of the best things I've ever experienced.  It opened up my mind to what I want to do after high school and made me realize I want to travel a lot when I'm older." - Priscilla Portwood, Shinhidaka Student Exchange 2016

"Our son has participated in two Sister Cities exchange programs.  The experiences he has had have helped him mature and grow in ways we could have never imagined." - Cathy May, mom of Shinhidaka Student Exchange 2015 and County Kildare Student Exchange 2016 participant

"Making friends and memories while being able to experience a new culture is one of the best choices I have ever made." - Chandler Hendren, County Kildare Student Exchange 2016

"I'm grateful for these opportunities that have given me not only academic and professional skills, but also human experiences that have shaped the person I am today." - Aurore Dary, Deauville Student Exchange 2008, UK-Deauville Scholarship Recipient 2013-2014, Calvados Internship 2015

To donate to the Lexington Sister Cities #GivingTuesday campaign, visit the website below on Tuesday, November 29th.  The link will be available from midnight-midnight.  If you would prefer to donate by check, please send those to our office with "Giving Tuesday" on the memo line.

https://www.lexingtonky.gov/giving-tuesday-campaign 

We hope you will be able to donate to our program this #GivingTuesday.  Thank you for your support of Lexington Sister Cities.