Albrecht Kemper opens Regional High School exhibit
By Kendra Simpson
The Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art hosted an open house for its Regional High School Exhibition Sunday afternoon.
Over 20 schools from Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas participated in the exhibition. The work was separated into nine categories and judged by three anonymous judges over the span of a few hours.
Awards were given to the first, second and third place artists in each category as well as an overall “Best in Show” award.
“It’s really incredible just to see all these other works that are around and knowing that this is something that I’ve accomplished with all these other great works,” participant and award winner Lola Hofman said. “And knowing that even though art isn’t like my main passion, it’s also something that I can excel at.”
Whether students plan on continuing their artistic career or follow a different path, it’s safe to say that all left with a sense of accomplishment, pride and inspiration.
“It’s giving me inspiration on what everybody else has done and seeing where I fit in the art scale of things,” participant Carter Shreve said. “And getting to compare my work with others, it’s been really interesting.”
There was no shortage of inspiration for these young artist. The artist’s skill levels ranged from novice to experts. Jay Adams, who won Best in Show, even currently has an art piece hand picked by a senator on display in the capital building in Jefferson City.
“I often explore themes of mental health, mostly my own mental health in my pieces,” Adams said. “And I like to use bright colors and lots of self-portraits. I decided it’d be a really cool idea to combine and make it more creepy than I usually do, a little more disturbing but in a fun way.”
Adams intends to continue their education at the Kansas City Art Institute while double majoring in creative writing and illustration. Although the artist is already fairly accomplished in their field, they described the news of winning Best in Show as a “shock”.
“It just brings a lot more confidence to my work because other people clearly think my work is good,” Adams said. “So it’ll just help me to keep moving forward and pursue my goals.”
The Regional High School exhibit will be open for viewing at the Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art from Feb. 27 until April 14.
