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The Stark Museum of Art is pleased to announce the opening of our 7th annual juried student art exhibition. Home Is… : 2021 Juried Student Art Exhibition is on view Wednesday, March 17 – Saturday, May 15, 2021.

This year’s theme was inspired by the upcoming special exhibition The West as Home at the Stark Museum of Art, as well as the student experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students were asked to create original, hand-crafted works of art that explored the idea of how they defined home. The Stark Museum of Art received 276 for entries for this year’s exhibition. Entries were submitted from students in 4th-12th grade from across Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. This highly competitive juried student art exhibition features the top 100 works submitted to the exhibition. The exhibition is judged by a team of staff at the Stark Museum of Art and takes approximately 100 hours to judge. A virtual exhibition of the work is also available online.

This year’s exhibition features artwork from the following schools:

Bridge City High School

Bridge City Intermediate School

Bridge City Middle School

Buna Jr. High School

Groves Middle School

Kountze High School

Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School

Mauriceville Elementary School

Odom Academy

Penn Foster

Sam Houston High School

St. Mary Catholic School

Vidor High School

West Orange-Stark High School

In addition to the honor of selection for this highly competitive exhibition, the Stark Museum of Art also recognizes exceptional works of art with three awards: Merit Award, Director’s Choice Award, and Signature Image Award. The Merit Award is given to the student artist with the highest score in each jurying category: 4th-5th grade, 6th-8th grade, 9th-12th grade. This year’s Merit Award Winners are: Lauren Tran, Bridge City Intermediate School; Kayle Hoang, Odom Academy; Emily Elliott, Sam Houston High School. The Director’s Choice Award is given by the Executive Director, Stark Art & History Venues, for outstanding achievement in art in each jurying category. Up to two Director’s Choice Awards can be given in each category. This year’s Director’s Choice Award Winners are Mckenna Raye Andrews, Mauriceville Elementary School; Kira Middleton, Bridge City Middle School; Alejandra Obregon, Groves Middle School; Ava Jane Webb, Pen Foster; Adisyn Estes, Sam Houston High School. The Signature Image Award is given to the student artist whose work best illustrates the exhibition’s theme. In addition to the award, this student artist’s work is used to promote the exhibition. This year’s Signature Image Award winner is 7th grade artist Alaya Jones from Odom Academy in Beaumont, Texas. Jennifer Restauri Dickinson, Curator of Education, commented, “The Juried Student Art Exhibition is a hallmark of our educational programming here at the Stark Museum of Art, and we are ecstatic to be able to host this year’s exhibition in person in the galleries as well as online. Students faced extraordinary challenges this year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they persevered and submitted some of the strongest works of art we have ever seen for this exhibition. This is truly a remarkable exhibition that you do not want to miss!”