Senior Olivia Bueno, an active participant in the Young Artist Program at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) for the past two years, earned the program’s highest recognition, a $2,500 scholarship, on Saturday, Apr. 5.
The Young Artist Program unites around 25 students who meet twice weekly from Sep. to March at the ICA. Bueno engages in gallery tours, discussing artists’ work with peers, and attends lectures on art principles. The program culminates in an exhibition where participants showcase their final pieces.
During the ICA’s opening exhibition, Bueno and fellow students answered questions about their experiences on a student panel. The organization then announced Bueno as the scholarship recipient before an audience.
“When they announced that I had won the scholarship in front of a whole audience, I was really surprised and super happy because I had been working so hard at the ICA, and hearing my name along with winning the scholarship felt great,” Bueno said.
Beyond the Young Artist Program, Bueno competes in the Scholastic Art Competition, which awards “keys” for top entries. At the regional level, gold keys recognize the top 7% of entries, silver keys honor the top 8-10%, and honorable mentions acknowledge the top 11-15%, according to Scholastic.
Bueno secured two gold keys and one silver key, earning her works a display at the Rubell Museum.
“At the Rubell Museum, I actually got a potential buyer for one of my pieces from Los Angeles, he saw one of my pieces and offered to pay and everything, so it feels great to have my art displayed in places like that,” Bueno said.
Bueno’s artistic journey spans years, evolving significantly.
“Ever since I was little, I would draw dragons- that’s how I started. And when I joined the art program in middle school, I started doing a lot of realism, and when I got to high school, I started thinking more conceptually and thinking about the meaning behind my pieces, and grew my own style,” Bueno said.
As part of her school’s AP 2D Art and Design class, Bueno creates portfolio pieces inspired by her sustained investigation theme of “showing the process of growing up using surrealism and symbolism,” Bueno said.
Next year, Bueno will attend the University of Miami, majoring in biology on a pre-med track, but she plans to keep art central to her life.
“I also want to pursue a minor in art, so I will be continuing to make art. Even then, something I have been exploring is combining medicine with art. I have a lot of medical-themed paintings, so it relates to my interest in medicine,” Bueno said.
