A Winner Is Drawn

THE PATRIOT LEDGER · SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 2003

By JULIETTE WALLACK

A Central Middle School sixth grader's artwork is on its way to Nepal, transported by a magic carpet.

Actually, that's almost the case. Soon, rug weavers in Nepal will transform Jenna Campbell's artwork into a carpet.

Campbell, 12, created her design for a contest sponsored by Solomon Rugs in Wollaston. The competition, open to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in Quincy challenged students to create a design that would be sent to Nepal and woven. The carpet will then be sold at auction, and proceeds will benefit Quincy public schools.

"All of them were great," said Solomon Mojtabai, owner of Solomon Rugs,
said. He said five judges, including his designers and himself, looked over
more than 350 designs submitted by students from Quincy's five middle schools.

The judges chose five finalists, and picked a grand-prize winner from
those five. The winning design and newly woven carpet will be displayed for one year in the Fleet Bank in Quincy Center before it is auctioned off.

Nicole Green, Campbell's art teacher at Central Middle School, said Campbell's design had modern elements in it. The sixth-grader created a quilt-like grid with boxes of solid colors interspersed among patterns.

The students enjoyed the project, Green said, and some even worked on their designs at home.

The five finalists represented each of the five middle schools in Quincy, but Mojtabai said that was a coincidence.

Campbell received a $100 award at a reception Friday at Central Middle School, and the other four finalists each received $50. The finalists and their art teachers were invited to the award ceremony.

She doesn't know what she'll end up doing with her award money,
Campbell said, though she might buy something for her bedroom or go to the mall with friends.

This was the first time Solomon Rugs sponsored the contest in
Quincy, but the company previously ran a similar contest at a charter school in Boston.

The enthusiasm from Quincy Public School administrators, teachers and
students showed Mojtabai that there's interest in the contest in Quincy,
here, and he said he hopes to expand the competition to other schools in the area.

The practicality of the contest appeals to Mojtabai, he said. "It's the
idea that what they think, they can bring it to paper and that can be used.

"It can be used as commerce and in everyday life," Mojtabai said. And
that, he said, makes the creation of art more practical. The contest, he
said, just gives children the idea that art can be useful.

Mojtabai got the idea for the contest when he saw graffiti on a building
in Boston, he said.

"I thought, 'How can we transfer it into productivity?'" he said.
"Instead of graffiti, make that work productive."

Kaveh Mojtabai and Solomon Mojtabai of Solomon's Collection & Fine Rugs, hold up the winning design by a Quincy Middle School student, during the awards ceremony at the Central Middle School on Friday.

Picture Courtesy of the Patriot Ledger © 2003

Solomon's Collection & Fine Rugs 
809 Hancock Street (Rt. 3A)
Quincy, MA 02170

Phone: (617) 770-1900
Email: sol@solomonrugs.com