Berks' Best 2024 visual arts winner Mia Davis wants to work in a gallery setting
May 17—A couple appear onstage engaged in a modern dance.
A man bends sideways from the waist and grasps a woman by her wrist and an ankle as she stretches away from him, melding into a clock face set in the background, her limbs and body becoming the hands of the timepiece.
"Standstill" is one of the many complex drawings Mia Davis has created that are allegorical expressions of her personal feelings.
"That back and forth kind of emotion," she says while seated in the art room at Daniel Boone High School. "I wanted there to be a lot of movement, but I also wanted there to be that that big symbol, to express the feeling of the girl who is reaching out and is unsure, that time is running out, because what is going to happen? That's why he is holding her, and she's reaching out to the clock."
Davis is the Berks' Best 2024 award winner in visual arts.
The 18-year old daughter of Michael and Lisa Davis of Birdsboro has had a lifelong interest in art, supported by her parents and particularly her grandfather Thomas Benfield.
"We both share a love for the arts, and his passion for creating has inspired me my entire life," Davis wrote in her Berks' Best application. "When I first expressed an interest in art he encouraged me to pursue my creative side, gifting me any and all supplies needed for my projects. While growing up, he would take me to local museums, art shows and galleries. We would spend afternoons throwing clay pots on his pottery wheel and making pencil drawings in his studio. Looking back these are some of my favorite memories."
Her artwork has received awards from exhibitions at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, the Yocum Institute and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Her mixed media artwork won the 2024 Best in Show Award at the 10th Annual Tri-County High School Art Exhibition at Montgomery County Community College.
She interned during her junior year with Promiseland Murals and contributed to the creation of artwork for schools, businesses and residences. She worked on a mural at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets detailing local history.
Davis has taken advantage of Daniel Boone's dual enrollment program through Reading Area Community College and has earned 15 college credits along with taking four Advanced Placement level classes.
She will be attending Millersville University in the fall and will pursue a fine arts degree. She also hopes to work in a gallery setting.
"My art this year has been all about my emotions and my personal experience, but I just love going to shows and seeing how other people are able to express themselves with their art," she said.
"And I just want that to be my every day because I can surround myself with other people's visions, their perspectives, their creativity and their passion," she said. "That community is so hopeful and bright, and I love that."
