Malak wins Scholastic microgrant

Hood River Valley High School art teacher Amirra Malak learned she is a recipient of a Scholastic Art Alumni Microgrant last week — about the same time her students were learning of their standings in the Oregon Scholastic Art Awards. The grants are awarded to artists who won Scholastic art awards in high school, said Malak, who won a gold key as a high school senior. According to the grant website, the Alumni Microgrant program awards $1,000 to six alum to support them in a creative endeavor. Malak is working on “Water Is Life,” a series of paintings about the nature and sacredness of water, said the website. She will use the microgrant to travel to Egypt to create new paintings based on bodies of water found in her father’s homeland.