Students from 11 schools participated in the Kaysinger Art Show at State Fair Community College this week, amassing more than 300 pieces of two- and three-dimensional work. Green Ridge High School students visited the show Thursday.
The art show was hosted in conjunction with the Kaysinger Conference in the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Building and was hosted this year by Green Ridge High School.
“We have 11 schools in our conference, and one school each year is kind of in charge,” Lori Larimore, Green Ridge art teacher, said Thursday. “So, that makes us the host, as far as art goes we had a junior high contest and a high school art contest.”
Larimore brought her students to see the show Thursday and to visit the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, also on the SFCC campus.
Categories for the show included paint, graphite, colored pencil, pastel, markers, design, charcoal, photography and three-dimensional art. Students had the possibility to place in first through fourth or receive an honorable mention. Larimore said most of the schools entered a total of 30 pieces each.
Teachers from the schools hung the pieces last week and three people from the area judged the work.
“Our school did really well,” Larimore said. “I teach only two high school classes a day, I have about 30 kids in those two classes. So, I asked my principal if I could bring the kids up to see all the artwork. I think that’s good for them to see their own on display, plus their competition. It good to see too what other kids are doing.
“When the teachers are all here hanging it, we’re looking at what other teachers are doing,” she noted. “So, I think that’s good for them (students) to look at and go ‘wow, I really like how they do that.’”
Green Ridge High School 11th-grader Hannah Schwermer received two first-place ribbons and one second-place ribbon.
“She has three really nice pieces in this show,” Larimore said.
Schwermer won first in graphite with a drawing of a dog and first in colored pencil with a drawing of two wolves. Also in the graphite category, she received a second-place ribbon for a portrait of her grandmother’s friend, who is a make-up artist.
When asked about why she liked art, she said her interest in it came about as she got older.
“Honestly, I wasn’t really into it when I was younger,” she said. “I did it as a hobby. As I got older, if I had like any kind of frustrations or sadness or anything, I would just devote all my thoughts to it. It helped me so much through anything. It’s been just kind of like a … savior.”
She noted that she enjoys working in all art mediums, but leans toward drawing.
“I like to draw with pencil, just because it’s something that I scribble on my notebooks while I’m in school,” she added. “I’m more used to that, but I love pen too. I’m not into painting, but I also enjoy that. I enjoy every media, really.”
Schwermer said she attributes her talent to her grandmother Linda Schwermer, a Sedalia jewelry artist. She plans to go to college and major possibly in psychology, but also plans to retain her art skills for relaxation.
“I want to do something with my art, but I want to keep it a hobby,” she added.
