Avery Binuya, a senior at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, won third place in the Visual Arts category of the 2023/2024 Thea Foundation Scholarship Competition.
Binuya of Lamar was awarded an $8,000 scholarship for her piece titled “Reflections.” The piece is two identically intricate wheel-thrown teapots, but one is shattered. Binuya used a gold picture frame to mimic a mirror’s reflection to fit the category them of “Individual and Beautiful.”
“I was inspired by my own struggles with self-identity,” Binuya said. “Throughout my journey of immigrating from the Philippines to the U.S., I’ve struggled with cultural and self identification. I wanted to make a piece that spoke to people who have struggled with similar things. Maybe they are the perfect teapot looking at the mirror and seeing a shattered version of themselves or vice versa.”
The Thea Foundation advocates for the importance of the arts in the development of youth. It is named for the daughter of Paul and Linda Leopoulos of Little Rock, who created the foundation after the death of their daughter, Thea.
Binuya was one of 36 high school students from across Arkansas who were recognized in this year’s scholarship competition. More than 330 students applied to compete for the $219,000 worth of scholarships awarded in five categories in the competition, including visual arts, performing arts, creative writing, film and fashion.
Art is something that had always been somewhat intimidating, but a wheel-thrown ceramics class that is part of ASMSA’s Visual Arts and Design Program of Distinction provided Binuya an opportunity to face the challenge head on.
“It wasn’t until I was introduced to wheel-thrown pottery when I felt comfortable to turn my mind off from the business of ASMSA and pour my focus onto my fingertips, a bag of clay and a bucket of water. I focused on the functionality of my art, too scared to take on the title of artist and the preferred the term artisan. Never would I have imagined that my two teapots would impact me this much and give me the confidence to produce more pieces without the confines I put myself in,” Binuya said.
The choice to create a teapot was the result of a personal motivational challenge.
“I had only taken one beginner wheel-thrown class and always wanted to make a teapot,” Binuya said. “So I threw myself in the deep end and made two intricate ones. I wanted to push my limits and show this abstract idea that portraits can be functional teapots. Maybe we’re all our [own] individually beautiful and special teapots.”
Binuya thanked Lola Warren, ASMSA’s ceramics instructor, for “supporting me and my teapots” as well as Dan Anderson, ASMSA’s graphic arts and film instructor, for photos of the piece that “captured the idea in my head.”
The Thea Foundation has awarded more than $3.1 million in scholarships to Arkansas students and provided more than $2.1 million in art supplies and creative materials to underfunded schools through its Art Closet Program. To learn more about the foundation, visit theafoundation.org.