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Over 70 high school artists in Crawford County participated in Lincoln Trail College’s Celebrate Art! event. The day gives artists a chance to be inspired by hearing from a guest artist. They also viewed artwork submitted to the Celebrate Art! contest and voted for a People’s Choice award.
This year’s featured artist was Nancy Nichols-Pethick from Indiana State University. She has taught painting and drawing at Indiana State University for 20 years and exhibits her work nationally. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Grand Prize for the 2023 William T. Turman Plein Air Painting Competition. She grew up in Maine and received her BFA from the University of Southern Maine and her MFA in Painting from ISU.
Nichols-Pethick shared what she’s learned in her lifetime of making art. She described her best friend as art, her worst enemy as “Purfekshun Izum,” and failure as her favorite teacher. Throughout her presentation, she gave the students several opportunities to make drawings and share them with their friends. She left the students with one final challenge when it comes to art, “you will never know until you try.”
Students submitted 41 pieces of artwork to the Celebrate Art! competition. Judges reviewed the work and awarded Robinson High School’s Carlee Neeley the Best of Show Award for her clay and acrylic paint piece “Love Sick.” Neeley’s “Fallen Flame” won the People’s Choice award.
Breana Pettigrew, Emma Newlin, Max Wallace, and LilyAnn Mullins from Hutsonville High School, Sydney Drum and Gracie Groves from Oblong High School, and Alix Bennett from Palestine High School earned Outstanding Artist Awards.
The eight winning pieces of art from the competition will be on display at the Lincoln Trail College Learning Commons through April 5.
