Celebrating 50 Years of Teen Originality and Talent

Amy Kirschke, Barbara Brown Lee Chief Learning & Engagement Officer, reflects on 50 years of student talent that has graced the Museum’s walls through the Scholastic Art Awards.

For 50 years, the Milwaukee Art Museum has celebrated the bold vision, inspiring originality, and exceptional technical skills of teen artists through the Scholastic Art Awards: Wisconsin Exhibition. This annual statewide competition for middle and high school students both delights and provokes, as emerging artists compel us to consider the world through their eyes. Each year, teens from over 120 Wisconsin schools submit more than 2,500 artworks to be adjudicated by 30 members of Milwaukee’s arts community solely on artistic merit.

Generations of award-winners have gained confidence in seeing themselves as artists (in a
museum exhibition!) and been inspired to pursue art careers.

Out of these submissions, over 350 works are included in the exhibition Scholastic Art Awards: Wisconsin Exhibition, which celebrates 50 years at the Milwaukee Art Museum this year.

More than 15,000 student artworks have been exhibited through the annual exhibition since it first came to the Museum in 1976. Generations of award-winners have gained confidence in seeing themselves as artists (in a museum exhibition!) and been inspired to pursue art careers. Today, we know many of these past winners as artists, designers, art educators, museum professionals, and community creatives.

This long-standing program has in turn fostered a generous mentoring culture, made all the more essential with cuts to art education and funding. Artists not only create but support other young Scholastic entrants by becoming art teachers who help submit their students’ work entries or judges who spend hours deliberating and advocating for student works.

Perhaps the greatest gift of the Scholastic exhibition is that it encourages all of us to embrace the transformative power of art. To be reminded, by yet another generation of extraordinary young artists, how art can uniquely inspire us to consider different perspectives and imagine new possibilities.

Plan your visit to applaud student artworks at mam.org/scholastic.

2026 Scholastic Art Awards: Wisconsin Exhibition

January 31–March 15, 2026
Schroeder Galleria

Support

Sponsored by

The Heller Foundation and Mary Ellen Heller in memory of Avis Heller
Peter and Debra Johnson
Anonymous donor

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Sadie Groskreutz (Gold Key in Sculpture, Grade 12, Kettle Moraine High School) pushed the boundaries of sculpture and embraced the joy of creation with her submission MR FLUFF BUTT (shown above). Challenging the notion of untouchable art, she intended the artwork to be touched and transformed by viewers’ interactions with it. Her work reminds us that creativity thrives when young artists are given space to take risks, experiment, and redefine what art can be.