Wyoming Arts Council

Artistic Discovery exhibit opens June 3 in Cheyenne

Featured News, Program News | May 26, 2015

---

 

The exhibition “Artistic Discovery: Outstanding 2-D and 3-D student work from the Wyoming High School Art Symposium,” will be on display from June 3-July 31 in Cheyenne’s Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue, home of the State Museum. The exhibit will be open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Forty pieces of two- and three-dimensional artwork from 19 secondary schools will be on display. They were exhibited and selected at the 47^th annual Wyoming High School Art Symposium, a statewide event held in late April and sponsored by the Wyoming Secondary Art Educators. Each year, more than 40 secondary and middle schools bring up to 4,500 pieces of artwork to the Casper Events Center for the two-day exhibition. At the symposium, students participate in educational arts activities and hands-on workshops, interview for scholarships and college entrances, view artwork created by their peers, and network with other art students from around the state.

Since 1991, Wyoming has participated in the Artistic Discovery Congressional Art Award. Each year, 25 pieces of outstanding 2-D works are chosen by outside jurors. From this body of work, one piece is selected and sent to Washington, D.C. to hang for a year in the U.S. Capitol. This year’s Congressional Award is Emily, by Alayna Whipple of Jackson High School. Her teacher is Greg Houda. The 24 honorable mentions are in the Cheyenne “Artistic Discovery” show. Jurors for the competition were Mark Ritchie, professor of art at University of Wyoming; Shelby Shadwell, UW art professor and Wyoming Arts Council roster artist; and Mary Fair Whitlach, art teacher at Verda James Elementary in Casper.

The 3-D artwork component began in 2003 as a partner exhibit that honors the exceptional 3-D artwork shown at the symposium. Pieces are chosen by an outside juror who selects work based on technical excellence and originality, to create a balanced representation of 3-D exploration happening in Wyoming art classes. This year the juror was Margaret Hayden, UW art professor.

This year’s 2-D honorable mentions are Tessa Hunt of Dubois; Sara Reed of Cody; Anneka Poitras, Jana Kuvasz and Lucia Espanoza, all of Lander; Hazel Eklund and Carlos Gonzales of Buffalo; Jazmin Razo of Evanston; Ryan Roybal of Rawlins; Maddi Raymond from Sheridan; Emily Swanson, Adam Bauer, Asia Lamb and Ali Clarke from Campbell County High School; Racine Witt, also from Gillette at Saga Valley Junior High; Kelsey Miller of Glendo; Danielle Trujillo from Wright; Cayley Gibb from Southeast High School in Yoder; Abbegayle Bell, Julia Nelson, Kayla Cimburek, Morgan Brown and Caleb Dahill from Casper’s Natrona County High School; and Shae Moore of Kelly Walsh High School in Casper.

Winners of the 3-D awards are Kyle Okray from Campbell County High School; Carissa Pickard and Tyler Lindblad of South High School in Cheyenne; Biz Hitty from Big Horn High School; Mary Miller of Tongue River; Abe Lowham from Lander; Kara Roberts, Paige Bushnell, Makenzie Harris and Sierra Sanchez from Natrona County High School; Frank Riley, Emily Allen, Hayley Henderson and Kendra Lewis from Green River High School; and Morgan Miller, Sarah McDonald and Jordan Sauer from Riverton High School.

For more information, contact the Wyoming Arts Council at 307-777-7742.

---