LITTLE ROCK — Several young artists from the River Valley & Ozark Edition coverage area have their work on display in the annual Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. The exhibit will be on view through June 30.
The exhibit features works by Arkansas students, from kindergarten through high school, in a wide range of mediums and techniques.
“The Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition fosters arts appreciation throughout the state,” said Rana Edgar, Arkansas Arts Center director of education and programs. “By providing a platform to celebrate creative expression, the Arkansas Arts Center reinforces the important role art plays in every classroom and every community.”
This year, 500 works were entered by 145 public- and private-school educators, home-school educators and private art instructors from all corners of the state. Following the submissions, a panel of art professionals selected the top works from each grade to be exhibited at the Arkansas Arts Center. The panel selected 79 works for the exhibition, representing 47 schools across the state. From those works, one Best in Class and two Honorable Mention awards were chosen for each grade by a grand juror. The juror 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 selected one Teacher’s Choice award from each grade level as well.
Each winning artist’s school receives a monetary award to support its 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.
The exhibition will open with a Family Festival and Awards Ceremony on Saturday. Activities for children of all ages will be offered from 10-11:30 a.m. in the Alice Pratt Brown Atrium, and awards will be presented at 11:30 in the Lower Lobby Lecture Hall.
Local students with works in the show, listed according to school, include the following:
• Academics Plus Charter School, Maumelle:
Kindergartner Greyson Hyde with a mixed-media piece titled Robot.
First-grader Tyler Hendrix with an untitled oil pastel and watercolor.
• Carl Stuart Middle School, Conway:
Seventh-grader Kaitlyn Powers, with a colored-pencil and marker piece, M.I.B, Kehinde Wiley Style.
• Central Arkansas Christian Schools, North Little Rock:
First-grader Alice Mounts, who won an honorable mention award with a watercolor/oil pastel, Monet’s Water Lily Bridge.
Seventh-grader Rebecca Rossi, who won a Best of Class award with a collage, Curious Cat.
• Dwight Elementary School, Russellville:
Fourth-grader Alexandra Davis, who won a Best of Class award with a cardboard and paint creation, Sea Face.
• McCann Fine Arts, Maumelle:
Fifth-grader Eva Harrell, with an acrylic on canvas, Three Pears.
Sixth-grader Leah McCann, who won an Honorable Mention award with a pastel on paper, Princess Leah.
Tenth-grader Caroline Gunderman, who won an Honorable Mention award with a pastel on paper, Self Portrait.
• Morrilton High School:
Twelfth-grader Maddie Adams, with a collage, Collage Portrait #1.
• Pottsville High School, Pottsville:
Eighth-grader Olivia Mosby, who won an Honorable Mention award with a charcoal, A Weaver’s Dream.
Ninth-grader Clayton Teeter, who won Honorable Mention and Teacher’s Choice awards with a charcoal, Grandpa Hale.
Tenth-grader Jada Parker, who won Best of Class and Teacher’s Choice awards with a charcoal, Hidden Joy.
Eleventh-grader Haley Garner, who won a Best of Class award with a colored-pencil piece, Anywhere You Go.
Twelfth-grader Laci Woods, who received a Teacher’s Choice award with Merry and Bright.
• Pottsville Middle School, Pottsville:
Fifth-grader Emberly Smith, who won an Honorable Mention
award with a colored-pencil piece, My Bull Rusty.
• Theodore Jones Elementary School, Conway:
Kindergartner Naomi Andrews, who won an Honorable Mention award with a tempera and oil pastel, The Bouquet.
• Vilonia High School, Vilonia:
Tenth-grader Marlee Lamoreaux, who won an Honorable Mention award for a graphite work, With Laughter.
• Westside Elementary School, Greers Ferry:
Sixth-grader Deeanna Carlton, with a watercolor-and-marker piece on paper, At the Ballet Studio.
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. Sundays. The gallery is closed Mondays and major holidays. There is no admission charge.
For more information, call (501) 372-4000 or visit www.arkarts.com.