LITTLE ROCK — In addition to the three students from Pottsville Junior High School featured elsewhere in today’s paper, several other young artists from the River Valley & Ozark Edition coverage area will have their work on display in the 56th Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition when it opens Tuesday at the Arkansas Arts Center.
The exhibit will be on display through July 23 in the Alice Pratt Brown Atrium and the Sam Strauss Sr. Gallery. There is no admission charge.
The annual exhibit celebrates the creative achievements of young artists from kindergarten through 12th grade. This year, 495 works in a variety of media were entered by 132 teachers or instructors from 124 schools.
The show includes 104 pieces representing 58 schools in 27 towns across the state. Awards include one Best of Class and two honorable mentions per grade, in addition to one Teacher’s Choice Award for each grade level that was selected by current members of the Arkansas Art Educators Association.
Each winning artist’s school receives a monetary award to support its art programs. 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.
Among the local students with works in the show and their respective schools are the following:
• Ellen Smith Elementary School in Conway: Second-grader Audrina Smith, with a mixed-media piece, The Big Apple.
• Ida Burns Elementary School in Conway: Third-grader Cailyn Wolff, with a tempera piece, Winter Fox.
• Jim Stone Elementary School in Conway: Kindergartner Reese Schuetzle, with a mixed-media work, The Snow Birds and Sun; third-grader Sarah Lanaux, with an oil pastel, A Nice Surprise; and fourth-grader
Venancio Nabarrete, with a mixed-media piece, Venancio’s Technology Face.
• Theodore Jones Elementary School in Conway: Second-grader Abigail Rippy, with a mixed-media piece, Robots Rule; and third-grader Averie Bishop, with an oil pastel, crayon and watercolor work, Patterns in the Grass.
• Woodrow Cummins Elementary School in Conway: Fourth-grader Blakeley Potts, who won an honorable mention with a mixed-media work, Harvest Moon.
• Maumelle Charter School: Kindergartner Audie Abernathy, who won Best of Class and the Arkansas Art Educators Teacher’s Choice award, with an oil pastel, Audie’s Flowers.
• Grace Home School in Greenbrier: 11th-grader Evangeline Grace, with a pencil drawing, Angel.
• Vilonia High School: 11th-grader Savannah McBee, with a mixed-media piece, Savvy Soup; and 12th-grader Lauren McHenry, with a mixed-media work, Hunter and Prey.