The Heckscher Museum every year has an art competition called “Long Island’s Best Young Artists”. The competition is open to all high school students in Nassau and Suffolk County parts of Long Island in New York.

The competition is having the students grades 9-12 visit the Heckscher Museum to look at the works that belong to the Heckscher collection. The students are told to find an “inspiration” piece of artwork. With that piece of artwork that they have analyzed and interpret it into their own piece of artwork.

Once a student has created his or her piece of work, he or she must submit an application and the actual piece. Many students from all over Long Island participate in this competition and the art work that comes out of it is amazing! Out of all the submission around 80 of those are exhibited in the museum during the show that is held for them. This year the exhibit will be held on March 21 – April 19, 2015.

As a senior in high school, I was fortunate enough to participate in this competition. Although my piece did not make it into the show, being able to challenge myself and submit something was an honor.

As a budding artist, it’s important to start getting your work noticed by others. This show in particular is a great opportunity for young high school students to get their work noticed before applying to college. Being able to say that you had your work in an exhibition is a great experience. It can help you with colleges and sometimes even jobs. If an opportunity like this comes about in your neck of the woods, take advantage of it! Be proud of what you can accomplish!

If you would like to learn more about this competition or see students’ works from past years visit http://www.heckscher.org/education_high_school_student_programs.