Prince William Arts Society Scholarship Program from PWAS
The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) sponsors an annual Scholarship Program available to local high school students graduating with a pursuit in art education or bachelor's degrees in fine art.
The Jewell Pratt Burns Scholarship Program from PWAS
The Prince William Art Society began a scholarship program in 2008 that awards up to 2 high school art students in Prince William County $1,000 each. The program is based on eligible art students that are in the 12th grade and graduating to pursue a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts or Art Education.
The Scholarship Program is funded by donations to PWAS (a non-profit organization). The Prince William Art Society has been in operation for 50 years this year (2021), with member artists displaying their acrylic and oil paintings, photography, watercolor, pastel, etc artwork at Clearbrook Center of the Arts at Tackett's Mill in Lake Ridge, VA and at a variety of art shows and events.
In 2008, the President of PWAS at that time, Alice La Bier, asked the membership if they wanted to start a scholarship program given by PWAS and the vote was a big, Yes!. The program was named after founding charter and current member of PWAS, Jewell Pratt Burns.
All high schools in Prince William County are applicable to submit students for consideration - public, private, parochial, and home schools - the requirement is that the students are pursing art after graduation and the process must work through the school systems.
Setting up the program takes a lot of work every year and there are definitely restrictions and processes in place that must be adhered to. The PWC high school art educators must do a good portion of the go between for PWAS and the students that they have selected to apply.
Permission must be granted each fall for the program to take place and it is a long process to ready all the paperwork and work through the school's guidelines and policies. PWAS does not have any interaction or contact with ANY students until the teachers have gotten their "group of selected artists together". Once the applicants are narrowed down, then PWAS interviews the students and the teachers are notified, who then notify their students.
PWC High School Art Students
The scholarship award-winning student artists have always been quite talented and have worked in a multitude of mediums and styles - acrylic, oil, and one student for fashion design excellence was a past award winner too.
The 2008 recipients of the Annual Jewell Pratt Burns Scholarship Awards of $1000 each were to two extremely talented students Danny Morgan and Brittany Person.
The most recent scholarship awards were given on May 27, 2019 to two art students. COVID disrupted the ability to work with the schools in 2020 and 2021 program periods, so unfortunately the scholarship could not be awarded those two years.
Typically, the award ceremony given by PWAS, takes place in the spring close to the time of the recipient's graduation. The members of the Prince William Art Society are keeping their fingers crossed and hope to restart the Scholarship Program with the schools for the next award season in 2022.
The ceremony has taken place at the Tall Oaks Community Center with a reception, a cake, a check to the winning student(s) and of course, pictures. The budding artist(s) is surrounded by their families, some friends and when available, their teacher(s). A certificate is presented as well.
See the archived PWAS Scholarship Program Winners here.
Art Scholarship Winners in the Future
Jewell Pratt Burns, the Scholarship's namesake and Emily Hawes have co-chaired the Scholarship Program for its lifespan thus far. The hope that 2022's award ceremony will take place once again and that COVID does not prevent that from occurring.
I asked Jewell when interviewing her for this article if she ever hears back from the past winners and she answered with, "Occasionally, yes I do!. I love to hear how they are doing and if art is still their career path." And PWAS still does want to hear back from those emerging artists and art educators PWAS Scholarship Program Winners and hear how it is going for them!
More Information is Coming
More information on the PWAS Scholarship Program should be available in December on the PWAS website https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/ The application will be available online via the site along with more information, requirements and the deadline for entries.
Prince William Art Society: Visit PWAS
Visit us at Clearbrook Center of the Arts on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 – the art is always free to see!
Want to join PWAS? Join PWAS Membership
Thank you for visiting and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!
See Local Art:
Want to see some examples of Jewell's work in person? Visit us at
Clearbrook Center of the Arts at Tackett's Mill in Lake Ridge, VA on
Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 pm – it’s free to see the artwork!
Want to join
PWAS? https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/ and see the Membership page.
Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!
Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in photo-realism
acrylic painting on canvas. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many
other subjects. Visit her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/ or her
Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/DonnaLiguriaArt
Photography/Video Credits:
PWAS
