Christina Szakonyi is the recipient of the 2023 Laura Ziegler Scholarship. The Scholarship is for an emerging sculptor and covers most of the expenses associated with attending the June Sculpture Celebration.

In 2022, Szakonyi received her MAF in studio art from Florida State University. Her thesis research paper and artwork exhibition explored the intersection of theism, origins science, and art history; particularly cave painting and medieval illustrated manuscripts. That same year, she gave an artist talk on ‘Bodies of Meaning’ at Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts. She has studied portrait sculpture with Rick Casali, drawing and painting with Jonathan Hardesty and figure drawing with Charles Miano.

In 2017, Southwest Art Magazine selected her as one of 21 Under 31 Young Artists to Watch. You can read more about her artistic process at Realism Today, in her article ‘Unbridled: A Painting that Questions the Assumptions We Make.’