Skye Murie and Jordawn Moses Receive ACA’s Community Arts Leadership Award

The Arlington Center for the Arts was delighted to present its 3rd annual Community Arts Leadership Award to Arlington High School Seniors Jordawn Moses and Skye Murie at the AHS Scholarship and Award Night on June 7, 2012.

The ACA Award, underwritten by former ACA Board President John Cinkala, recognizes two graduating seniors each year for their community service through the arts. Through their leadership and creativity, the 2012 award winners truly reflect the mission of the Arlington Center of the Arts, which is to transform lives and build community through the arts.

Jordawn Moses and Skye Murie accept ACA’s Community Arts Leadership Award at the annual Arlington High School Awards Night, June 2012. Photo credit: Mark Wilke.

The “after” shot – the AHS girls’ restroom after Jordawn’s covered over all the graffiti and painted the walls with bright colors and uplifting quotations. Jordawn is happy to report that at the end of the school year, there was not a single case of graffiti in the transformed space.

Jordawn Moses has used her creativity and initiative to improve the lives of others. Concerned with the effect of graffiti on self-esteem, Jordawn transformed a girls’ restroom at AHS from a place filled with demoralizing and hateful messages into a space where, as she put it, “one could feel respect, solace, and beauty.”

Jordawn worked with a local paint store to select peaceful colors, painted over all the graffiti, and replaced demeaning messages with uplifting words and quotations. In addition, Jordawn has volunteered with elders in the art therapy department of an assisted living facility, and her own artwork has been selected for the Spy Pond Mural project, slated to be hung on the Arlington Boys and Girls Club.

Jordawn will be attending Mount Ida College in the Fall.

See the artwork created by Jordawn and three other teen artists for the Spy Pond Mural.

Skye Murie is an accomplished visual artist who has excelled in ceramics, watercolor, acrylics and oil painting, and has received recognition from the Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards, and received the AHS Arts Award in her Freshman, Sophmore and Junior Years.

Skye Murie’s Jacob Marley puppet was an impressive and memorable part of AHS’s 2011 production of “A Christmas Carol”

This fall, Skye saved the day for the production of “A Christmas Carol” at AHS, volunteering to create a 7-foot tall puppet of the Ghost of Jacob Marley, after a professional puppet designer fell through. Skye’s puppet received amazing reviews! Skye has also participated in the Concord Family Trees Exhibit, where she designed and constructed ornaments for holiday trees inspired by children’s books.

Skye Murie will be attending Hampshire College in the fall.

See more images of Skye’s artwork on her Flickr page.

The Arlington Center for the Arts is delighted to be able to recognize these talented young artists who understand the importance of the arts as a tool to better their community and change the world. Jordawn and Skye have truly transformed lives through the arts.

Everyone at ACA offers our congratulations and best wishes in all their future endeavors!