Spence receives best of show at Quincy Art Center’s 51st annual high school student competition

QUINCY — The Quincy Art Center recently announced the winners of its 51st annual high school student art competition.

This year’s Best of Show was awarded to Kaitlyn Spence for her oil painting, “Pursuit.” Second place went to “Newspaper Boat,” a photograph by Kayden Warner, and third place went to “Large River Birch Bowl,” a ceramic piece by Logan Foxall.

Quincy Notre Dame High School art teacher Amanda Strudwick won the Art Teacher Award for her oil painting “St. Cecilia.”

Additional Award Winners:

• Robert Lee Mejer Creativity Award: Emma Bowen for “Patch”

Merit Awards:

• Kaitlyn Spence for “Baby Steps” (acrylic)
• Jackson Day for “Needle Knight Leda” (oil paint)

Great River Watercolor Society Awards:

• Tyren Maxwell for “Winter” (gouache)
• Kenneth Motley for “Avoidance” (watercolor)

Honorable Mentions:

• Molly Springer for “Holiday Road” (acrylic, watercolor)
• Kendalyn Ruxlow for “Nature’s Calling” (acrylic)
• Jalaya Ries for “On Deck” (mixed media)

Special Recognition Awards:

• Iris Arevalo for “Blooming” (oil pastel)
• Amber Carmean for “Lipstick on a Pig” (acrylic)
• Felicia Ralph for “Just A Silly Goose” (mixed media)

Sponsors were Lee Lindsay, Signe Oakley, Steve and Judy Siebers, Jim Mentesti, Doris Malacarne, Jim, Ann and Avery Titus, Alan Knepler and Coletta Miller, Alan and Mary Ellen Stiegemeier and Quincy Recycle.

The 51st annual high school student art competition exhibit is open through Feb. 27 at Quincy Art Center, 1515 Jersey. The Art Center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit www.quincyartcenter.org or follow Quincy Art Center on social media.