By Kathy L. Collins
On Thursday, January 10, the SouthShore Regional Library and the SouthShore Arts Council hosted a reception for the Annual High School Art Show at the library. Students from six area high schools including Bloomingdale, East Bay, Newsome, Lennard Riverview and Spoto entered beautiful works of art. 125 pieces were entered and 55 were juried in to the show.
Over $2,700.00 was given to the winning students and the respective art departments thanks to a generous grant received from the John and Elizabeth Crawford Endowment from the Community Foundation of Greater Sun City Center and the SouthShore Arts Council.
Laurie Burhop, Art Coordinator at the SouthShore Regional Library said, “This was a really good show with different schools this year. The artwork was also diverse with photography, pastel, drawing and painting.” Burhop added, “I appreciate the teachers because it is a lot of work for the teachers,” Burhop added.
The judge for the show was Bruce Marsh. “I was delighted to see the variety of ideas and techniques and media involved. The diversity of work indicates that the teachers are exposing students to the immense range of possibilities in art, setting high standards and challenging their students’ imagination,” said Marsh.
“In making the selections, and in choosing the awards, I tried to find work that involved a combination of qualities. I was looking for memorable images; images that had presence and were to some degree unique or unexpected. I found several,” explained Marsh
The winners of the 2013 High School Art Show were: Kristen Jorgensen from Spoto High School with Best of Show; Kristina Carreras from Bloomingdale High School with First Place; Julia Hemminger from Riverview High School with Second Place; and Madison Entalis from Riverview High School with Third Place. In addition, Ramses Abad from Spoto High School, Scarlett Oneal from Spoto High School, April Showater from Bloomingdale High School and Emily Smith from Lennard High School, all won Honorable Mentions.
The artwork will remain on display at the SouthShore Regional Library through February 24. The library is located at 15816 Beth Shields Way in Ruskin. For more information, please contact Burhop at 273-3652.
