'A whole lot of talent' on display in Murray student art exhibition

Apr. 12—CHATSWORTH — As gratifying as the awards and accolades were for students whose work appeared in the Murray Arts Council's student art exhibition, perhaps nothing could match the exhilaration of seeing a piece of one's work purchased.

"It's my first sale, (so) I was really excited and happy," said Sarah Sane, a ninth-grader who is homeschooled. "It definitely brings up your self-esteem and makes you want to do more (art)."

Her fellow ninth-grader, Gracey Chambers, was so taken with Sane's miniature recreation of Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night" that she purchased it for a shelf in her room.

"It's very beautiful and pretty," said Chambers, who attends North Murray High School and also had artwork in the exhibition. "It's so fun to do art and be creative."

"You can express yourself," said Sane. "It's what you want it to be."

Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" was foremost in Sane's mind when she saw her tiny canvas, and "I was very happy with it," so she entered it into the art show, she said. It's "just plain acrylic (paint) — I used my tiny paintbrush — and I found it a lot more fun to work small."

"With a big canvas, you feel (pressure) to fill up the whole thing," she added. The mini-paintings are "like travel-size."

High school students in Murray County were spotlighted in the exhibition that ran Thursday-Saturday. The council is a nonprofit arts agency serving Chatsworth and Murray County, and more information is available on the council's Facebook page or at murray-arts.com.

Artists Michael Thompson and Mayelli Diaz Meza and graphic artist and banjo player Jim Pankey volunteered to judge the exhibition, according to Lori McDaniel, president of the arts council. Cash prizes were awarded for first through third places, as well as for the Judges Choice Awards.

Stephanie Vargas, given an honorable mention for "Opposites Attract," is a senior who exhibited a collection of art in this show, while "this is (Emerald Jordan's) first year of art here," said Murray County High School art teacher Ashli Solinger. Jordan, also an honorable mention — for her collage, "Another Sunny Day," — simply "just has a knack."

Judges Choice winners were North Murray's Jade Thompson and McKenzee Lofty, as well as Murray County High's Alex Lynch, who was also a finalist for this year's Bernice Spigel Prize for Excellence in the Visual Arts from the Creative Arts Guild.

Lynch was recognized for her "Self Portrait, Color," and she enjoys working with the human figure, including portraits, she explained. "I like to work with stylized pieces, and everyone looks so different, so there are so many (facial) features you can work with."

"I'm really proud of what I drew and glad others liked it, too," said Thompson. "We were assigned in art to do a still life in charcoal, and I tried to put as many details as I could into it."

"It was my first time using charcoal, (so) it took a bit of getting used to, because it's so messy and not what I typically use," she said. "I like colored pencils, but I would use charcoal again."

"I like that we can show others what we can do and get our work out there before we become adults," said Thompson, who was named the winner of the 2022 Murray County Farm Bureau Art Contest. The "recognition is a kick-start."

There are "so many talented people, but a lot of them don't get to express what they can do," said Lofty. "It's cool we have the opportunity to do that" at this exhibition.

Lofty's clay piece, "Island of Good and Evil," took her "about a month to build, and then you have to fire it and dry it, so it took about 2.5 months total," she said. "I love building things, getting my hands dirty, and representing stuff."

"Island of Good and Evil" is "one of my favorite" creations, she said. "There's a lot of good and bad in the world right now, but so much good that it outweighs the bad, I think," so her piece has more "good" than "bad."

And "inside the island, there's good" behind the bad, she said. "There's a good side behind even a bad person."

Lofty praised her art teacher at North Murray, Kristy Sitton, for helping her excel.

"She's very inspiring and has taught me almost everything I know," Lofty said. "She really gets your hopes up when you're down, and I couldn't ask for a better teacher."

Art shows like this are critical in encouraging young artists, Sitton said.

"For some of these students, it's one of the few recognitions they get."

Though the art show focused on older students, a selection of works from Chatsworth Elementary School's recent "Our Community Chatsworth" exhibition was also on display. Pieces from that project were also exhibited on the porch of the Wright Hotel on Saturday during the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society's train expo.

Chatsworth Elementary kindergartners produced a watercolor of Fort Mountain, first-graders created a watercolor of Chattahoochee National Forest flowers, second-graders contributed a colored pencil quilt of Cherokee Indian life, third-graders concentrated on printmaking of regional animal habitats, fourth-graders focused on trains with pen-and-ink drawings, fifth-graders were living wax figures based on historic people and places, and sixth-graders produced coil pottery.

That project was made possible by a M.B. Seretean Foundation grant — the arts-in-education competitive grants are available annually to elementary teachers in Dalton Public Schools, Murray County Schools and Whitfield County Schools — administered through the local Oscar N. Jonas Foundation. Bud Seretean was an early and generous contributor to the Creative Arts Guild — his friendship with Oscar Jonas led him to be a founding member and later chairman of the Jonas Foundation — so the grants honor their love of the arts.

Murray County High's Riley Ogles earned first place in the art exhibition, for "Practice Makes Perfect"; North Murray's Jordan Defriece was runner-up, with "Mandala Sunflower"; and Murray County High's Daniel Sanders took the bronze medal, for "Growing Together."

"I see a whole lot of talent" in this exhibition, said McDaniel. "I encourage all of you to keep making art."