Winnsboro Center for the Arts Presents 8th Annual High School Art Competition & Exhibition
Last year’s High School Art Competition & Exhibition Best in Show winner, Hayley Jasper from Hawkins High School, poses in front of her award-winning graphite drawing.
The 8th Annual High School Art Competition and Exhibition will be presented by Winnsboro Center for the Arts (WCA) at 200 Market St. Winnsboro, Texas, from March 5 – April 18, and the reception to celebrate the artists will be from 2:30 – 4:30 pm March 20 at WCA.
Homeschool students and high school students in the following school districts are invited to participate in this competition and exhibition: Miller Grove, Mineola, Rains, Como-Pickton, Alba Golden, Hawkins, Yantis, Quitman, Winnsboro, Harmony, Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Vernon, Gilmer, Lone Oak, and Sulphur Springs. This competition is open to all types of art and provides students in Northeast Texas a unique opportunity to be juried by professional artists, have their artwork exhibited in the art gallery at WCA, with over $1000 worth of prizes awarded to the winners. This competition and exhibition are made possible by the work of volunteers and patrons of the arts, Lyn Baldwin and Mary Geisler.
This is the second year that WCA will host this event. In 2013, Friends of Rains County Public Library decided to engage talented teens from local area high schools to compete in an art competition. Convincing high school art instructors to rouse their teenage students to participate and get involved in an artistic competition was not an easy task. In the first year there were only 20 entries and two schools that showed any interest. But, like all good things the word got out, the prizes got bigger, the creative juices began to flow, competition became healthy and by 2019 over 100 outstanding entries graced the walls of the Rains Library’s Meadows Room. Ten area Rains and Wood County high schools competed and 30 purple ribbons and over $1000 in cash awarded.
By 2020, students and teachers looked forward to the 7th High School Art Competition, but Baldwin needed help continuing the legacy. In 2021, WCA opened its doors to the competition and exhibition. Baldwin expresses that “teens needed an opportunity to express themselves through self-discovery and communication.”
Learn more about current and upcoming art exhibitions at WCA here.