We would like to invite and encourage you and your students to participate in the

Art Impact 2023 | Crater Art Competition!

The competition (sponsored by the Wetumpka Impact Crater Commission and partially funded by the Alabama State Council on the Arts)  is open to K-12 school age students across Alabama.

 

History: The art competition and exhibition centers around the Wetumpka Impact Crater, which is Alabama’s only confirmed impact crater. During the Age of Dinosaurs, 85 million years ago, a meteor collided into a shallow sea (Gulf of Mexico) in what is now known as Wetumpka, AL. The series of impact events that ensued occurred in just over three minutes; changing life and landscape. The crater remained in the shallow sea for millions of years until the sea finally receded. 

 

Discovery: Beginning 1891, AL Geologist, Eugene Allen Smith was puzzled and intrigued by the “structural disturbances” in the land and rocks of Wetumpka, AL. That was until AL Geologist, Tony Neathery did further research and deemed it an ‘Astrobleme” (literally ‘Star Wound”) in 1976, which was greeted by skepticism. However, in 1998 Dr. David King (Geologist, Auburn University) and his research team found shocked quartz through deep drilling, proving it was an impact crater. The Wetumpka Impact Crater was confirmed in 1999 by additional scientists and added to the Earth database for impact craters in 2002. It is considered one of the best-preserved marine impact craters in the world.

 

What we are looking for: In this collaborative art and science project, we are calling for art entries with content relating to the impact crater, the meteorite and/or impact, the surrounding area and population (dinosaurs & ocean life) or plant life around the time of impact- during the Cretaceous Period. 

 

You and your students have three (3) opportunities to submit art! 

(Feel free to submit student art in all three cycles! We actually would love that! It is simply your choice.)

1. End of School:             Thursday, June 1, 2023

2. Summer Break/Camp: Tuesday, July 31, 2023

3. Back to School:            Wednesday, August 23, 2023    

      The exhibition dates are: August 31, 2023-September 15, 2023.

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What to do: Simply print the art template on any type of white paper that will feed through your printer (copy paper, card stock, lightweight watercolor paper, etc.) Have your students create their masterpieces in the upper-white rectangular space and fill in their personal information in the lower portion (please print your info neatly) – no matting or mounting necessary.  After that… all you need to do is slip your students entries (with the entry form taped to the back of each entry) in the mail to us! We’ll take care of it from there! * ( There is the option of using the printed template as a mat if ou print it on cardstock- simply cut out the upper white rectangle, create your art on another piece of paper, and tape it to the back of the printed template/mat... then attach your entry form.)

 

Judging Criteria:

• Content, Creativity and Technical Skill

• Relativity to Wetumpka Impact Crater

• Work may range from realism to abstraction

• Artist’s Voice and Originality

 

Student Awards:

Award’s will be presented at the award ceremony: August 31, 2023, 5:30-6:30 pm.

Grades K – 5:   1st  $25 | 2nd  $15 |  3rd  $10

Grades 6 – 8:   1st  $50 | 2nd  $25 |  3rd  $15

Grades 9 – 12: 1st  $75 | 2nd  $50 |  3rd  $25

*Additional awards may be given at the discretion of the adjudication committee.

 

Thank you in advance for your participation and we hope to see each of you and your students at the

Opening Reception and Award Ceremony on August 31, 2023 (5:30-6:30 pm) in Wetumpka, AL.

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