Monroe City student wins best of show at Quincy Art Center’s 49th annual high school art competition

QUINCY — Quincy Art Center recently announced the winners of its 49th annual high school student art competition, and a piece called “Indefinite” from Kaitlyn Spence of Monroe City High School was selected as best of show.

A total of 375 submissions were received for this competition, open to high school artists in grades 9-12 from 20 local counties. One hundred works of art were selected for the Art Center’s latest exhibit.

The juror for the competition was Madeleine LeMieux from Columbia, Mo., the Art on the Move coordinator and instructor at the School of Visual Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

In a press release, LeMieux said to those who entered, “As an artist, I aim to generate this joy in my own work. It’s not simple or easy to accomplish, so I applaud the teen artists selected for this exhibit for all their hard work in pushing themselves to make work that goes above and beyond.”

In addition to the competition, the Art Center also was the host of the sixth annual high school art teacher exhibit. All high school visual art teachers with students who entered the high school competition were eligible to enter. The winner of the art teacher award received $300 to use toward their classroom to buy supplies, equipment or an art lesson from the Art Center.

The other 49th annual high school student art competition award winners were:

Best of Show:

• Second Place: Gracie L. Von Thun, Pursuit of an Identity, North Shelby High School
• Third Place: Brooke Bergman, Seeing Stars, Hannibal High School

Merit Awards:

• Kylie Neisen, Her Name is Bertha, Central High School
• Dawsyn Perry-Broekemeier, Curiosity, Quincy High School

Honorable Mention:

• Thomas Barnes, Stune Dragon, Mark Twain High School
• Kameil Crane, Into the City, Hannibal High School
• Tabitha Haxel, Light Up My World, Hannibal High School

Great River Watercolor Society Awards:

• Mikayla Dreyer, The Piano House, Highland High School
• Hannah Hendren, Miss Mischief, Madison C-3 High School

Special Recognition Awards:

• Lucas Dotson, Heaven’s Hand, Quincy High School
• Aly Noland, Ocean Blue, Palmyra High School
• Cheyenne Smith, Baby Brother, Hannibal High School

High School Teacher Award:

• Steven Walker, Where Light Meets Dark, Palmyra High School

The exhibit will be on display until Feb. 22. The Art Center, 1515 Jersey, is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Exhibits are always free and open to the public.

Generous sponsorship has been provided by:

• Nora Baldner and Kent Schnack
• Martha Didriksen
• The Holzgrafe Family
• Lori Kruse
• George and Mary Nell Meyer
• Charles and Anna Miller
• Moellring and Ambler LLC
• Moore’s Floors
• Craig Myers and Debra Scoggin-Myers
• Signe Oakley
• Steve and Judy Siebers
• Howard and Ruth Ann Snowden
• The Great River Watercolor Society
• Zoup
• grants from the Riedel Foundation
• a grant from an Anonymous Donor Advised Fund through the Community Foundation.