CANE HILL -- Historic Cane Hill, in partnership with the University of Arkansas School of Art, held a ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 19, to announce the winners of its fourth annual Arkansas High School Art Competition and to open its Arkansas High School Art Exhibition.
Winning pieces included various mediums and techniques.
Roman Kresse, a senior from Little Rock Central High School, was the grand prize winner of the Historic Cane Hill Young Artist Scholarship Award. Roman's winning piece is an oil pastel on paper titled Messaging in the Hallway.
The scholarship will finance two semesters of attendance to the University of Arkansas School of Art, valued at around $10,000.
Five other students won Jurors Awards with cash prizes. Bekah Jackson, also a senior from Central High, and Gavin Justice, a junior from Bentonville High School, each won $500 prizes. Bekah won for her mixed-material tableau, Hands Over Feet, and Gavin's ceramic sculpture, Hand, earned him the award.
Cooper Tidwell of Farmington High School and Chrystal Mercado of Siloam Springs High School each received a $250 award. Cooper's winning work is an acrylic painting entitled OUT!. Chrystal won the award for her work in clay sculpture, Mushroom Teapot.
Landon Barker, from Bentonville High School, won the $150 Jurors Award for his work in photography.
These works, as well as those of many other talented students from across Arkansas, will be displayed in the Historic Cane Hill Gallery through Jan. 26, 2023.
The art competition is the product of an ongoing partnership with the University of Arkansas' Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the UA School of Art. Donna Smith Jones, the Art School's director of recruitment and outreach, has worked each year with Historic Cane Hill staff to organize and execute the competition and the exhibition opening.
As in past competitions, three arts professionals in the state served as jurors. This year the panel consisted of Laura Allen, executive director, South Arkansas Arts Center; Neil Callander, associate professor of art, painting & drawing, University of Arkansas School of Art; and Carly Dahl, executive director, Batesville Area Arts Council.
More than 200 guests attended the artists' reception and awards ceremony held at the Historic Cane Hill College building. Afterward artists, teachers, parents and guests made their way to the Gallery for the opening of the exhibition.
For the 2022 competition, 95 artists were accepted into the exhibition, 30 more than in last year's show. In-state opportunities for high school students in Arkansas to earn awards and present their work in this type of exhibition are not common and Historic Cane Hill hopes the annual event will continue to incentivize students to pursue the arts in high school and beyond.
The exhibition is free to the public and the Cane Hill Gallery is open 10 a.m.– 2 p.m. each Thursday, Friday and Saturday through Jan. 28. Historic Cane Hill encourages all art enthusiasts, professionals, school groups and members of the general public to come admire the amazing work of these emerging artists from all over Arkansas.
To book tours of the gallery throughout the exhibition's run or to learn more about the competition, please contact Public Programs Manager, David Collins, at [email protected]. Also, visit the Historic Cane Hill Event Page for more information on the winners, including photos of each winning piece.
The competition was made possible through funding from the Tim and Amy Leach Charitable Fund and Ozarks Electric Cooperative & Ozarks Go. Historic Cane Hill's Director of Arts and Culture, Lawrence McElroy, curated the exhibition.