PSC and the Anna Society host Juried High School Awards Exhibition

Pensacola State College presented 23 awards to 20 young artists on Tuesday, June 23, during a reception for the annual Juried High School Awards Exhibition, currently showing at the Charles W. Lamar Studio on the Pensacola campus. Hosted by the Anna Society for Visual Arts and PSC, the exhibition features a collective of student artwork by 61 high school juniors and seniors from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

The Anna Society supports the mission of PSC’s Anna Lamar Center for Visual Arts to exhibit, collect, interpret, lead and preserve the visual arts. Anna Society members participated in judging the exhibit for the annual awards presentation.

Founding member John Switzer presented the show’s highest honor, the Aspiring Anna Award and $200, to Pace High School’s Gabrielle Vallot for her mixed media sculpture, “Herman and Jeff.” The award is presented in memory of Anna Lamar Switzer, the grandmother and mother of the Switzer and Reilly families whose transformational gifts to the PSC Foundation in 2002 and 2014 supported the center’s renovation and expansion and continue to fund visiting exhibits, artist lectures and student scholarships.

Other Anna Society awards were presented as follows:

• Best in Show ($125): “Perceive” (ceramic sculpture) by Linh Tran, J.M. Tate High School;
• 1st Place ($100): “Clowns in Color” (colorized and toned cyanotype, photograph) by Gretchen Williams, Pensacola High School;
• 2nd Place ($75): “Musically Natural” (mixed media collage) by Naomi Andress, Jay High School;
• 3rd Place ($50): “Can You Hear My Song?” (mixed media drawing) by Abigail Lynch, J.M. Tate High School;

Honorable Mention: “Feeling of Doubt” (mixed media painting) by Colbie Leach, Pace High School; “Portrait of a Dreamlike Self” (mixed media painting) by Kennedy Miller, Gulf Breeze High School; and “Illuminate” (textile) by Gabrielle Osten, Escambia High School.

Additionally, PSC President Ed Meadows, Ed.D., presented the President’s Choice Award and $200 each to Navarre High School’s Blakeley Marshall for her ceramic sculpture, “Destiny,” and Pace High School’s Gabriella Vallot for her mixed media sculpture “Herman & Jeff.”

Meadows also awarded President’s Choice Honorable Mention honors to Pace High School’s Kileyann Eastmead for “A Slow Process” (scratch drawing) and Kaitlyn Simonds for “Kait™” (acrylic painting); Gulf Breeze High School’s Kennedy Miller for “Vase with Eight Sunflowers” (color pencil drawing); Escambia High School’s Nayomi Miller for “Nap Time” (digital illustration); Navarre High School’s Anna-Beila Mitchell for “The Awakening” (ceramic sculpture); Jay High School’s Ethan Phillips for “Tail Winds and Bright Eyes” (digital painting); and Milton High School’s Kira Wagner for “Nature’s Changes” (acrylic painting).

The People’s Choice Award and $100 went to Zyla Scott from J.M. Tate High School for the digital photograph, “Forbidding Doorway.”

 

Gulf Coast Kiln Walk Society Awards were presented for the following ceramic sculptures:

• 1st Place ($100): “The Awakening” by Anna-Beila Michell, Navarre High School;
• 2nd Place ($50): “Survival” by Lelah Landey, J.M. Tate High School;
• 3rd Place ($50): “Freedom” by Avery Didion, Navarre High School.

Presented by Holley Hill Pottery owner Brenda Stokes, the Holley Hill Pottery Award ($50) went to Navarre High School’s Katie Gersic for her ceramic sculpture, “Seasonal Harmony.”

Presented by Stokes on behalf of Blue Morning Gallery artist Sue Woodson, the Woodson Pottery Award ($50) went to J.M. Tate High School’s Linh Tran for her ceramic sculpture, “Perceive.”

In addition to the current student awards, four PSC scholarships were previously granted to the following high school artists based on their academic performance and portfolios: Gretchen Williams from Pensacola High School received the $3,600 Academic Excellence Scholarship; Ava Kibodeaux from Pace High School and Kira Wagner from Milton High School each received the $3,000 Anna Lamar Switzer Endowed Scholarship; and Asher Moore from Pensacola High School received the $1,500 Jaco’s Bayfront Restaurant Photography Award.

The Juried High School Awards Exhibition is showing through July 30. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday.