Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot [D] recently gave Maryland Masters Awards to two public school students from Calvert County in separate presentations at the Comptroller’s Office in Annapolis.
On Friday, Nov. 22, Madelyne Matthews, a second-grader at Beach Elementary School in Chesapeake Beach, was recognized for her work of white leaf prints with sponge-printed mosaic background on black construction paper.
On Wednesday, Dec. 4, Cameron Benton, an eighth-grader at Mill Creek Middle School in Lusby, was recognized for his print of a cougar drawn on a rubber printing plate then carved onto the plate.
The Maryland Masters Award recognizes young artists who have displayed extraordinary artistic skills and vision for Maryland’s future. The new award program was initiated to celebrate students’ achievements through the arts and to showcase artwork of students from kindergarten to 12th grade for two months in the Comptroller’s Office in Annapolis.
The Calvert County students’ art joins a collection of original paintings by one of the comptroller’s favorite artists, Herman Maril. An American modernist, Maril was born in Baltimore and served as a professor at the University of Maryland for more than 30 years.
