LITTLE ROCK — Several young artists from the Tri-Lakes Edition coverage area have their work on display in the 57th Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.
The exhibit will be on display through July 22 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 in kindergarten through the 12th grade.
“We 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 young Arkansans while empowering them to express themselves in a positive way.”
This year, 492 works in a variety of media were entered by 142 teachers or instructors from throughout the state. The show includes 104 works of art representing 63 schools in 31 cities. From those works, one Best in Class and two honorable-mention awards were chosen for each grade by Michael Shaeffer, a Little Rock-based artist. Shaeffer also selected recipients of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists Award for Achievement in Watercolor and the Ray Smenner Award for Achievement in Painting. Members of the Arkansas Art Educators Association also selected one Teacher’s Choice award from each grade level.
Each winning artist’s school receives a monetary award to support the school’s art program. Selected works from the exhibition will travel to schools and other venues around the state as part of the Arkansas Arts Center’s Statewide ArtsReach Programs.
Local students with works in the show and their respective schools include the following:
Bryant Middle School, Bryant
• Ninth-grader Angel Sanchez won an honorable-mention
award with a colored-pencil drawing, Hands and Foot.
Harmony Grove Schools, Haskell
• Fourth-grader Cameron Walker has a relief print series, Willard’s Worms, in the show.
Pine Haven Elementary School, Bauxite
• First-grader Weston Eddy won Best of Class with a tempera painting, Matisse’s Apples.
• Second-grader Scarlett Morehead has a tempera collage, Giraffes Can’t Dance, in the exhibit.
The Arkansas Arts Center is at Ninth and Commerce streets in Little Rock. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. The center is closed on Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, call (501) 372-4000 or visit www.arkarts.com.