International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on 20 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promote multilingualism.
This is a juried exhibition. Artwork will be displayed as a virtual exhibit by Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. Three artworks in each age group will be selected and awarded as first, second, and third place. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: December 21, 2021
Please fill out the google form below to submit your artwork:
GUIDELINE FOR ARTWORK ENTRIES:
- Fill out Mother Language Day Statement Word Document form and include: your name, age, canvas/paper size, material, technique, or any other information that helps the judges learn more about your entry in the document.
- Submit a clear image of your artwork in .jpg format or Video (1280×720 pixels or larger, 2-5 mins, mp4, avi, mov, mpeg2 (mpg, mpeg).
- Size is limited to 11” x 14” for artworks.
- Write a short statement (40-150 words) and record an audio file describing your artwork and how your artwork relates to the theme.
JUDGING CRITERIA:
- Creativity: Judges look for creativity and originality of your artwork.
- Technique: Judges look for skill demonstrated in the technique that you have chosen to create your artworks.
- Interpretation: Judges look for how close your artwork is to the theme and your statement.
- Overall presentation: Judges look for how you have handled forms, colors, use of space, and composition.
- Statement: (40 to 150 words): your statement will be graded, too.
Please contact Sepi if you have any questions: alborzfarsischool@gmail.com // (408) 829 - 8296
MEDIUMS
Drawing, Painting, Collage, Photography ,Multimedia (audio, recordings, video, etc.)
ELIGIBILITY
Boys and girls are encouraged to enter their artwork in one of the following age categories:
- Group A: 6 to 7-years-old
- Group B: 8 to 9-years-old
- Group C: 10 to 13-years-old
- Group D: 14 to 18-years-old
Some of Past Winners and Honorable Mentions Artworks
Name: Tanisi Ramachandran
Age: 10 years old / Material: watercolor and color pencil
I am the bridge between the two most important places in my life. My culture, my heritage, India and America. I will always carry a bit of both to every place I go. My mother tongue language, Telugu, is not just words to me, it is the joy and happiness of my culture. I will never be able to ignore India’s and America’s influences as they join me on my path to the future.
Name: Madhumita Ramesh
Age: 12 years old / Material: Painting on canvas
I feel mother language is something that always stays close to someone’s heart. While a human being tends to acquire many languages through his/her education, profession or otherwise, mother language always stays in his/her heart. For me, it is the Indian language Tamil. It is one of the oldest languages in this world. Though I am living away from my country and learning to speak many foreign languages, I speak in my mother language with my parents and I consider that as my contribution to preserving the ancient language.
Name: Nika Rezaian
Age: 11 years old
My painting represents an astronaut that goes on the moon and passes out but in his mind he thinks that he goes in a different universe. He sees that each planet is based on one language. The first planet he goes to in Iran because that is where he is from and when he got there he realized how important mother tongue is when seeing all of the culture, music, and yummy food! (when the guy flashes the light it shows what he's thinking of.)
Name: Anvitha Bakshi
Age: 11 years old / Material: Painting on canvas
My painting presents 4 people in the 4 stages of life - The bottom one is a child, second one is teen, third one is an adult, and the top one is a senior citizen. The painting shows them deeply connected to their roots regardless of which part of the world they are in or in which stage of life they are. No matter how old we are or how many languages we learn in the world, throughout our life, our roots will always be our mother tongue.
Name: Veda Samhitha Lanka
Age: 11 years old / Material: Acrylic
My painting shows each part of Indian culture, life, and places is within me. The girl shows this, by the geometric shapes that divides her up into these aspects. The girl is meditating, and this is because meditating is a religious practice, as well as a spiritual exercise. The small, oil lamp at the very center of the girl, represents the Soul. The tree is what illustrates my future, my dreams. The trunk of the tree represents how I’m growing, while the branches and the leaves indicate future, reaching out, into the world.
I’m proud to be part of my culture.
Name: Ava Ganjisaffar
Age: 7 years old
I miss my grandparents because they can’t come to USA and stay with me anymore. President Trump doesn’t let them come. My mom told me it is called travel ban. In this painting I am talking to my grandma over phone in Persian language. She taught me how to speak Persian when I was younger. When president trump goes I can see them again in our house and we can celebrate Persian New Year again.
Name: Hara Salim
Age: 9 years old
In the world, there are many different languages that are spoken. I know how to speak two languages, but I know how to say hello in many different languages. Hello, Halo, hallo, kon’nichiwa, aloha, 你好, xin chào, bonjour, hej, salve, namaste, kamusta maholo, salam, pёrshendeje, xaípεTε, and 3дPaBeŇTe. Different people have different mother languages. My mother language is English. I learn Chinese from my mom and my school. I enjoy learning different languages and cultures. Someday, I want to know all the languages, so when I go somewhere where the people there speak a different language, I can talk to different people in their language and know about their culture.
Name: Amanda Boles
Age: 10 years old
I am half American and half Chinese. So what I am expressing is that I love both sides. One side of me is Chinese on painting and that's half of my heart. And on the other side I am American and that is the other half of my heart. So if you add the two halves together you get my whole heart which defines the meaning of me.
Name: Nika Rezaian
Age: 10 years old
Mother language is good to learn because you can speak with your parents in your language like I do. I drew this painting to show I am Persian and part of this universe, and of course I will show my culture and custom of my country with my mother language. Mother language that ways of preserving human unity It doesn’t matter what language we are talking, the most important part of it, all of the people live in one earth and all of us have same emotional and feeling.
Name: Anisha Senthilvasan
Age: 8 years old
In my art, I have shared that while my mom and I live in the US, my mother language, Tamil(spoken in South India), is special to me as it is the language of love. No matter what language I speak, my mom always loves me and expresses her love through her Tamil songs.
Mom sings: அனிஷாஇங்கேவாவா, ஆசைமுத்தம்தாதா!
(English translation: My dear Anisha come near, give me a loving kiss dear!)
Tamil is my mother's language and it is the language of love for me.
Name: Vivian Zhang
Age: 10 years old
I've traveled to a lot of country before, England, France, Sweden are those land that I've step on before, but there is two country that has special meaning to me, China and the United States of America. I've moved my life from China to America, this was one of the biggest change in my whole life. On my painting, I've showed the earth and I wrote China in the left side and USA on the right, my life is kind of like a arm wave that had changed slowly through out my life. I missed the life in China and can't be separated from the life in the USA.
Name: Yash Sharma
Age: 10 years old
This artwork is about the significance of my mother tongue in my life. I do not use my mother tongue at school or while talking to my friends. But at home, when my mother talks to me in Hindi, I feel a deep sense of connection to my roots and culture. Sometimes it amazes me that the words spoken by my mother have been passed on to her by her ancestors and now she is passing it on to me. This makes me part of a culture that is thousands of years old - and I get a sense of pride and belonging. My painting depicts the Goddess Kali, a symbol of time and motherly love, indicating my centuries old heritage as well as my mother tongue. Ultimately, our culture as well as words in our mother tongue reflect feelings and emotions that everyone experiences, and that unite us all as humankind.
Name: Artur Komleu
Age: 7 years old
The modern age of space exploration exists largely because of the actions of two countries who competed to get the first people on the Moon: the United States and the former Soviet Union. Today, space exploration efforts include more than 70 countries with research institutes and space agencies.
We all live on the same planet Earth. Lets make this place peaceful ! Lets make it better!
This is what astronauts thought at the moment they looked through porthole of the space ship . They were enormously missing home! OUR PLANET