Our Kids Our Future: Immense Artistic Talents of Our Kids

By Almas Akhtar

Zainab Bhurgari, 16 years, Honorable Mention

“Most Creative Sculpture/craft/piece of jewelry”

Ali Imam, 19 years, runner up in 16 to 20 yr old category

The 2nd Youth Art Exhibition held on February 4, 2012 at the Hyatt Dearborn, displayed 133 art exhibits from water color paintings to abstract oil pastels to exquisite clay sculptures and charcoal sketches. Everyone present in the room was mesmerized by the artistic talents of the kids ranging in age from 5 to 20. Apart from the first prize winners in all three age groups there were three runners up, two special prizes and about 10 other honorable mentions.

Daniyal Waqas Ahmed, winner of the 1st prize in the older age group category is a student of Art Graphics at Macomb Community College. He loves sketching.
Nail Chaudry, the 1st prize winner in the 11 to 15 yr old category, loves sports and painting, he is a 7th grader at Crescent Academy, Canton. Naail’s painting brought tears to the eyes of those present; it was titled “in my mother’s arms (true story of an Iraqi orphan).”

Arsam Haroon won the runner’s up prize in the same category, his painting “Allah and our World” depicted people of the world and their connection to God. Yumna Jahangir, a 9 yr old student from Brewster Elementary School, painted about the beauty of Pakistan, her painting shows a beautiful truck on a street to kites flying and girls dancing in beautiful costumes.
Areesha Hassan, a student from Crescent Academy, won runner’s up prize in the same category for her “still life” painting. Ali Imam,  the runner’s up in the 16 to 20 yr old category, studies at University of Michigan Ann Arbor; he loves to paint and sketch in his free time. Sama Khan, an 8yr old from Dougherty Elementary, was awarded the “Most Creative Craft/Sculpture/Piece of Jewelry.” She made a sculpture of a “penguin” with an inflated balloon and paper mache.

Saood Kabir won the prize for “Most Creative Painting/Sketch”for his 3D painting “Our World ……..today”.

The judge for the youth art exhibition Ms Cristina Sirakos, an artist herself and art teacher at local school district, praised all the winners and runners up. She said she was impressed by the good quality of the art work and it was very hard for her to select the winners as there were so many good art exhibits in all age groups.

There were at least 10 more art exhibits who Ms Sirakos mentioned in her speech.Razeen Farooq a 13 yr old from West Hills Middle School painted a water color/oil painting and Unser Jaffrey’s 3D sketch of “Picasso” both caught the eye of the judge. Amber Akhtar’s oil pastel “It’s Black, it’s White” (fight against racial discrimination) had a strong message, her second painting, an abstract in the shades of pink and green, also caught the eye of the judge. Mohammed Ozair Shareef”s silver ring named “Lady Gaga” which he made in metal smithing class at Cranbrook High School was also very beautiful. Zainab Bhurgari, a 16 year old from Monroe, painted a beautiful oil/water colour painting, and 7-year-old Fouzan Qureshi’s painting “Me and My Dad” was appreciated by all the the guests. A few other honorable mentions were Ammar Akhtar for his clay sculpture of “One Eyed Man,” as well as Sameen Haq and Sania Ahmed for their pencil and charcoal sketches. Hassan Kareem’s shadow box sculpture portraying his moods also caught everyone’s eye.

Students studying in the “Citizens Foundation” Schools (one of the sponsors for the exhibition), in Pakistan also sent 8 paintings which were displayed in the Ballroom, everyone praised the great artistic talents of these kids.

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