The Crenshaw/LAX Neighborhood Student Art Contest has been extended to July 12, giving high school students a couple more weeks to enter their artworks. Eight selected young artists will receive $500 each for the acquisition of their artwork, which will be adapted into one of eight commemorative pins representing each station along the new rail line.

Students whose artworks are selected for the opportunity will be in good company alongside many well-known artists who have participated in the Metro Young Artists program, which was initiated in the 1990s.

One notable alum is internationally renowned artist Kehinde Wiley, whose recent work will be exhibited locally later this year. As a 17-year-old high school student participating in the program, Wiley created a large-scale mural that was reproduced as a poster and placed in 2,000 Metro buses.

Wiley has since developed a formidable career as an artist and was recently selected to paint former President Barack Obama’s official presidential portrait for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, which will be on view at Los Angeles County Museum of Art this fall as part of The Obama Portraits Tour. 

Find out more about the Crenshaw/LAX Neighborhood Student Art Contest and how to enter at metro.net/claxartcontest.

More information about Metro Art, including the art program for the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project, is available at metro.net/art. Or, check out some of the future Crenshaw/LAX station artworks below.

Click here for information about Metro Art. You can also follow Metro Art on Instagram, Facebook, and at #MetroArtLA.