Noel Etheridge: National YoungArts Week Alum
With over 9,000 entries nationwide, and only 151 winners with distinction, this year’s Young Arts Week award program was as competitive as ever. This didn’t stop IB senior Noel Etheridge, however, from earning recognition as one of only two students in the state of Florida to win an award with distinction, surpassing her competition with her passion and talent as a rising young creative designer.
Although she can rest easy in her recognition as one of the extremely talented and dedicated individuals to receive an award for distinction in design, the designer was initially nervous about entering a portfolio.
“Entering into this competition, I knew that the number of portfolios I had to compete with would be dense. In 2023 alone, there were over 7,000 entries with only around 130 winners with distinction,” Etheridge said. “I still wanted to give the competition a shot.”
Etheridge’s confidence was well rewarded, as an entry for photography earned the artist a $250 cash prize. The most notable achievement for Etheridge, however, was her recognition for design with distinction, which included an all-expenses paid trip to Miami, Florida for a week, during which Etheridge was able to experience life-changing interactions with peers ranging in talent from multiple artistic disciplines. For the discipline “design”, in which she was awarded, Etheridge worked closely with members of the panel that ultimately decided to accept participants in the YoungArts Week program based on their submitted portfolios.
Some of these panelists include Diana Eusebio, a previous 2016 Young Arts winner with distinction in design, fashion and textiles designer, and U.S Presidential Scholar, Lucia Cuba, a Peruvian fashion designer and women's reproductive rights activist Chat Travieso, New York City-based architect and co-founder of the interdisciplinary collaborative practice 'Yeju and Chat', and Yvonne Lin, a product designer who worked for numerous major companies like Nike, Gatorade, and Harley Davidson.
In addition to working with the panelists at the weeklong experience, Etheridge was also introduced to multiple guest artists and experts in a variety of design aspects in workshops, some of which introduced unconventional tools and methods used by designers with which she and her peers experimented.
“Prior to [one] workshop, I was extremely skeptical of AI's place in the art community, and though I still have my concerns on the matter, I enjoyed working closely with this artist to gain a new perspective that I had never thought of before,” Etheridge recalls after a workshop using AI to generate collages.
Etheridge was also able to gain insight into how inclusivity can be applied to design in workshops that aimed to expand the boundaries of accessible fashionwear to consumers, particularly plus-sized clothing.
“The workshop was both difficult yet an amazing learning experience for me as a designer.”
As for her experience outside of the more production-focused periods of the YoungArts Week, Etheridge was also able to collaborate with like-minded artists from various arts disciplines when outside of workshops.
“I got to attend the nightly performances of my peers who were in performing arts and connect with many different people during scheduled eating times,” Etheridge commented. “The connections I made during this experience were nothing I've ever encountered before, such incredibly talented individuals that I got to interact and become friends with. I am truly honored to call myself a YoungArts alum, such an incredible place to be, I really couldn't have asked for more!”
After such a monumental achievement for a young artist, one can’t help but wonder what the next steps look like as a young arts alum. For Etheridge, the Savannah College of Art and Design awaits as the creator looks to draw on her own views of representation and artistry into her craft as she enters the next stage of her life and career as a soon-to-be high school graduate. As for the future, Etheridge wishes to impart some wisdom and words of encouragement to other aspiring artists.
“YoungArts was one of the most profound, eye-opening artistic experiences I’ve ever got to participate in. I am so thankful that I was invited to experience a week that I will truly never forget. The clarity I’ve gotten from that week was truly eye-opening, and it gave me the confidence I needed to claim my art as a part of myself. If anyone is truly passionate and serious about art, I highly encourage them to apply for YoungArts, I honestly couldn’t say it enough.”