LITTLE ROCK — Several young artists from the Three Rivers Edition coverage area have their work on display in the 55th Young Arkansas Artists exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.
The exhibit will be on view through July 24 in the Alice Pratt Brown Atrium and the Sam Strauss Sr. Gallery.
“We at the Arkansas Arts Center strive to promote quality arts-education initiatives and achievement in the visual arts,” said Todd Herman, Arkansas Arts Center executive director. “Through the Young Arkansas Artists exhibition, we are offering a platform to celebrate artwork created by our young Arkansans and are helping to empower them to express themselves in a positive way.”
This annual art exhibition showcases artwork by Arkansas students, from kindergarten through the 12th grade. This year, 157 teachers or instructors from 161 schools submitted 525 works in a variety of media. A jury of art professionals selected 105 works for the exhibition, representing 63 schools across the state. The award structure was changed this year to include one Teacher’s Choice Award per grade level, selected by current Arkansas Art Educators Association members.
Tom Clifton, art department chair and professor of illustration and drawing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, served as the grand juror. Clifton was responsible for selecting one Best of Class and two honorable mentions for each grade. A second guest juror, Debbie Poe of North Little Rock, a retired art educator of 34 years, selected recipients of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists Award for Achievement in Watercolor and the Ray Smenner Award for Achievement in Painting.
Each winning artist’s school receives a monetary award to supports the school’s art program. Selected works from the exhibition travel to schools and other venues around the state as part of the Arkansas Arts Center’s State Services Program.
The young artists were recognized at a Family Festival and Awards Ceremony on May 7.
Local students with works in the show and their respective schools include the following:
Beebe High School
Tenth-grader Natalie Childress, who won a Best of Class award, the AAE Teacher’s Choice Award and the Ray Smenner Award for Achievement in Painting for her watercolor and watercolor-pencil work titled Rachel; and 12th-grader Brienne Jackson, who won an honorable mention with her watercolor and watercolor-pencil work Emergence.
Beebe Junior High School
Seventh-grader Alyssia Davis, who won the Mid-Southern Watercolorists Award for Achievement in Watercolor for her watercolor and Sharpie work titled Primroses.
Cabot Freshman Academy
Ninth-grader Ivy Westmoreland, with Taint, a work in pencil.
Cabot High School
Twelfth-grader Michelle Peck, with an acrylic on canvas named Umbrella Family.
CD Creative Studio, Cabot
Ninth-grader William Kozlowski with The Hound, an oil pastel on Strathmore pastel paper; and a 12th-grade group project — a wooden-structure and mixed-media work titled Why I Love America — created by Zach Brown, Jackson Jolley, Zoe Simon, Kaitlyn McDermott, Hannah Joslin, Jackson Jones, Christine Foltz, Brandon Hammonds, Bryce Johnston, Mikayla Boyd, Billy Kozlowski and Ava Tonnesen.
Eastside Elementary School, Cabot
First-grader Camden Wells, with an oil-pastel and tempera-cakes work called The Weird Girl.
Riverview Schools, Searcy
Eighth-grader Joshua Harrison with a ceramic glazed sculpture titled The Mysterious Tree.
Southside Elementary School, Cabot
Kindergartner Dakota Duncan with Tiara, a mixed-media piece.
The Arkansas Arts Center is at Ninth and Commerce streets in Little Rock. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The gallery is closed Mondays and major holidays. There is no admission charge.
For more information, call (501) 372-4000 or visit the website www.arkarts.com.