Tabb Student is Best in Show at Pfac 'Prefaces'

By WYDaily Staff Saturday, May 21, 2011

Local high school students' artwork is on display at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center gallery as part of Prefaces 2011: High School Student Juried Art Exhibition.

Best in Show honors went to Lydia Barnett of Tabb High in York County, whose untitled charcoal drawing earned a prize of $300.

Barnett's was considered the best among 374 pieces of art entered from 17 different high schools. Just 97 were chosen for exhibition, with winning artists awarded a total of $1,100.

Vanessa Thaxton-Ward, Interim Director and Curator of Collections at Hampton University Museum, judged the annual show, which allows Hampton Roads high school students the opportunity to show their work in a professional gallery alongside their peers.

"They are proud of who they are. Our students recognize that education is important, and that there are certain social ills in our society, as well as the good that can be found in the simplicity of a flower," said Thaxton-Ward. "As I selected the works to include, it was enlightening to see all of this reflected in their work and that 9th–12th graders were thinking about all of this.”

Other winners are:

First place, $250 - Emily Eaton of Jamestown High School for "Daydreamin’," her digital photograph.

Second place, $200 - Dominic Simmons, Menchville High School, Newport News, for his untitled linoleum print.

Third place, $150 - Anna Marry, Poquoson High School, for her untitled collage.

Fourth place, $100 - Dashonte’ Temoney, Hampton Roads Academy, for "Organic Splash," her work in clay.

The exhibition continues through June 12 with free admission offered on Tuesdays from 5:30 to 8 p.m.; Saturday, June 4, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, June 5, from 1 to 5 p.m. Other exhibitions on view are Richard Hunt: Sculpture and Works on Paper, Form and Shadow: Recent Work by Greg Henry and Newport News Public School Senior Miniature Show.