Art from the heart: Exhibiting Excellence displays creativity of region's students

A screaming face, self-portraits, ceramic snake, sculptures of wire and wood were among pieces created by students from 22 area high schools at Exhibiting Excellence on Southeast's River Campus.

The 39th annual high-school art exhibition is hosted by Southeast Missouri State University's art department. The Crisp Museum will host the display through March 19, which contains 110 pieces culled from over 350 submissions.

Director Carol Horst is in her ninth year directing the exhibition, which invites teachers from area high schools to submit up to 15 pieces by their 11th- and 12th-grade students.

This is a juried show, meaning the pieces were reviewed for inclusion by a juror, then judged on criteria including self-expression, technical skill and risk-taking.

Barbara Bickel, associate professor of art education at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, served as juror.

Micky Goodson views a piece in the 39th annual Exhibiting Excellence show that opened Sunday at the Southeast Missouri State River Campus in Cape Girardeau. (Ben Matthews)

According to Bickel's juror statement, she was looking to highlight works expressing the artist's view of the world.

"I was moved by the art that sensitively referenced the natural ecological world, and the too-often marginalized art such as textile arts, and overlooked Native American histories," she said in the statement.

She also looked for pieces that brought humor, noting, "We are in need of humor as well as serious thought in these times."

Pieces represented a range of influences, from surrealism to abstract art to hard realism.

Traditional formats such as collage or batik were present, but newer methods, such as digital art, were present as well.

Guests view art made by local high school students during the 39th annual Exhibiting Excellence show that opened Sunday at the Southeast Missouri State River Campus in Cape Girardeau. (Ben Matthews)

Horst said she loves the variety of work the students present.

"Every year, it's just so interesting to see the thoughts of students and what they're experiencing in their lives," she said, adding how they show their ideas in their art is exciting to see.

"It's different every year," she said. "I think that's the best part of the exhibit."

Lexi Hennecke, whose "Cavallo di Colore" took third place in fibers, said she was inspired by her love of horses and an interest in color.

"Ms. [Elizabeth] Thomas, my teacher, gave me the idea for wrapping the horse hair," she said, gesturing to tufts of horse hair wrapped in brightly-colored embroidery floss and attached to a piece of wood painted in coordinating stripes.

Hannah Boyle, Amy Boyle and Isaiah Boyle view art in the 39th annual Exhibiting Excellence show that opened Sunday at the Southeast Missouri State River Campus in Cape Girardeau. (Ben Matthews)

"While I was working on it, I thought, 'Am I going to end up liking this?' And it's turned out to be one of my favorite pieces I've done," Hennecke said.

Christy Moore, art teacher at Saxony Lutheran High School in Jackson, said she is proud of her students.

"We entered seven pieces, and two got in," she said, adding she could not imagine the difficulty in selecting pieces for the show.

Moore said her students, Alexis Goodson and Rachel Wichern, are inspired by their surroundings, and they take a lot of pride in their community.

"Both of them are into drama," she said, so they have experience building props and painting scenery.

Guests view art made by local high school students during the 39th annual Exhibiting Excellence show that opened Sunday at the Southeast Missouri State River Campus in Cape Girardeau. (Ben Matthews)

Goodson's project, "Tailored Perspectives," incorporated local newspapers and Missouri road maps into a dress fitted to a mannequin form Goodson built and dyed red, white and blue to represent her patriotism.

Wichern's "Henna Elephant" took honorable mention in the ceramics category.

Emily Harris, whose "Invasive" won first place in fibers, said she was inspired by the velvetleaf plant, an exotic invasive species whose dried fruit resembles her finished piece.

"I think of how hard plants work to be invasive," she said, and went to work on the design.

She sketched out how the piece would look, cut out paper pieces to see whether the structure would hold, cut pieces from T-shirts, starched them, stitched them together on a sewing machine, starched them again and made tissue-paper "seeds" for each compartment.

"I dipped it in coffee to get the color right," she said, adding she and her teacher, Rob Friedrichs at Cape Girardeau Central High School, had to insert a hair dryer into each pod to get the piece to dry properly.

"It was a lot of work," Harris said.

"Every year is just awesome," Horst said. "We love it for so many reasons: students really celebrating their creative process and what they have to say about their world; it's a great advocacy for the arts, gets all the teachers together to see what each other's doing, parents get involved and the community."

Horst said she thinks it's a great collaboration.

"I'm glad the university offers it to the community, and shows how we can celebrate the arts."

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address: 518 S. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau

---

Exhibiting Excellence winners

Ceramics: Calli House, Cape Girardeau Central High School, "Sandhill Crane"

Drawing: Katelin Oswald, Cape Girardeau Central High School, "Coat of Armor"

Fibers: Emily Harris, Cape Girardeau Central High School, "Invasive"

Painting: Mia Schwettman, Scott City, "Road to Somewhere"

Photography: Dillon Landewee, Notre Dame Regional High School, "Overcast Afternoon"

Printmaking: Reagan Miller, Dexter, "Double Vision"

Sculpture: Tomas Concho, Cape Girardeau Central High School, "Hopelessness, Grief, and Sorrow"

Mixed Media: Jayla Wilson, Arcadia Valley, "Field Trip"

Best of Show: Emily Harris, Cape Girardeau Central High School, "The Pane of the Future"