GREENVILLE — The Anna Bier Gallery presented its annual Darke County High School Art Exhibit last week at Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall.
The exhibit, organized by the Darke County Center for the Arts, kicked off with an open house in which first, second and third-place winners were recognized in two categories, two and three-dimensional art. Winners were presented with ribbons and cash prizes.
Art teachers at Greenville, Arcanum, Ansonia, Versailles, Mississinawa Valley, Tri-Village, Franklin Monroe and Bradford high schools were invited to submit work created by their students for consideration.
Gallery Director Tamera McNulty then evaluated the pieces with a colleague, former Ansonia art teacher Chrissy Cox. The two ultimately chose more than 50 works of art to be displayed during the exhibition, which will remain available for viewing during upcoming DCCA events at Memorial Hall.
“It was cool to see what everybody was doing, to visit their schools and see their art rooms,” McNulty said of the selection process.
Pieces selected include paintings, pottery, papier-mache, sculptures and glazed stoneware.
McNulty, who took over the Anna Bier gallery in July of 2017, said this exhibit was quite different from last spring’s elementary art show, which showcased work by Darke County K-6 students.
“I was more directly involved in the selection process this time, and that was enjoyable and challenging at the same time,” McNulty said. “Because there’s so much work, and everyone has different ideas about what they feel is exhibit quality.”
In combination, McNulty thinks the elementary and high school exhibits give her a chance to watch the potential artists of the future develop.
“When these kids come in, it’s exciting for me to see how their artwork evolves,” McNulty said. “I’d love to eventually see some of the students we had in the elementary exhibit come back for the high school show.”
The Darke County Endowment for the Arts provides funding to the Anna Bier Gallery each year, which in turn disseminates those funds to art departments at schools throughout the county.
“You could say those funds are an incentive for them to create work for us to exhibit, as well as just a way for us to help out the community,” McNulty said.
McNulty has done six exhibits and several workshops over the course of the past year, including ones showcasing architectural designs by artist Fiona Miller, glass mosaic guitars by Gale Christofferson and one featuring the work of members of the Greenville Art Guild, which was started by Anna Bier herself many years ago. The high school exhibit, however, will be the last event of the current season.
“I think this is a strong way to end my first year,” McNulty said. “I’m very proud of all the exhibits, and I think this show represents the artists who will be exhibiting professionally in the future.”
