Thomas County Central High School art students showed the state what they can create and earned numerous honors at the Georgia National Fair in Perry.
TCCHS students received eight first place, 10 second place, and two third place awards, as well as one honorable mention and two best in category recognitions.
“I was really happy about the win,” junior Savannah Barrett, who won a best in category, said. “I was surprised at how high I placed, being in such a big art show. I entered my artwork at the Georgia National Fair because it is the biggest fair in Georgia for high school art students.”
TCCHS art teacher Jocelyn Rivard said her students want to participate in shows, no matter the venue, but fair competitions are different from traditional gallery shows because they are “much more visited by the public and project a more casual atmosphere.” They also have numerous categories in a variety of mediums with places in each, unlike gallery shows where only a few winners are chosen.
“Of course, both of them are in search of originality, good craftsmanship, technical expertise, and exemplary use of composition by the students,” she said.
Junior Kate Weaver earned seven honors, including three first place, two second place, one third place, and a best in category awards. Her areas included painting, painting on paper, clay sculpture, jewelry, pen and ink, other drawing, and other 3D (woven).
Weaver said she entered the show because she wanted to see if her pieces would win.
“I was surprised to win as many as I did, as well as the best in category,” she said. “I feel proud to have won all these prizes.”
Her Best in Category—Painting piece, “Moose,” is a watercolor she made by drawing the moose onto grid paper and then layering paint colors on top of each other. This is also her favorite piece because watercolor is her favorite medium and she enjoyed creating the moose.
“I am very proud of winning best in category,” Weaver said. “It gives me a sense of accomplishment and it validates my want for an art career.”
Barrett won three awards: an honorable mention for her other 2D (woven) piece “Bottles of Oil and Vinegar,” and a first place in pottery (clay) and Best in Category – 3D Other for “Three Faces on a Pot.”
The pot was her favorite piece entered.
“I practiced Picasso face drawings and developed my own,” she said of the creation process. “I pressed out slabs of clay and shaped my faces to look like the ones I drew. I put together the three slabs and pressed designs. Once the pottery was fired and dry, I painted the pot (using acrylics) and set to dry.”
Maria Davis won first place in pottery for “Picasso Faces” and second place in other 2D (woven) for “Sunflowers in Tin Vase.”
“I’m always honored to win at any fair,” Davis said. “I feel that my hard work pays off when I win.”
Her favorite piece entered is the Picasso pot, not because it won first place in its category but due to the fun she had creating it using clay and acrylic paint in “cool” colors like green, blue and violet.
For the woven sunflowers, she created two identical pieces except one was done in paint and the other crayon. She used a lime green paint wash over the crayon piece, and then cut the pieces in opposite directions in order to weave them together.
Davis “loves” entering her artwork at the GNF because of the fair’s high attendance rate.
“Lots of people will get to see my art, and I work so hard on my art so it almost acts like a piece of me,” she said.
Sophomore Sheila Escareno won first place in paper/papier-mâché for her piece “Mask with Large Beak.”
“My favorite animals are wolves and foxes,” she said of the piece’s subject. “Then, I thought the mane of a lion looked interesting to mix with a wolf/fox snout, so I decided to do that.”
Escareno said the piece received a “show quality” grade from Rivard and she agreed to enter it in the fair. She was “very surprised” and felt “really happy and excited” with her win.
Riley Singletary won two awards: a first place in printmaking for “Heron” and a second place in pottery for “Tall Coil Pot.”
Singletary said her grandparents have herons in their pond, but the coil pot was her favorite piece entered because it “was so much fun to make” and she “loved putting my own twist on some of the Japanese designs.”
“I just overall love the way the clay and different blue glazes turned out,” Singletary said.
The young artist said she entered artwork “in hopes of winning” but “didn’t necessarily expect to” win. She hoped to win something for her pot, but was “especially” surprised to win for “Heron.”
“I feel great that I placed and can’t wait to share the news with my family,” she said.
Georgia National Fair Youth Art Competition TCCHS Winners:
Best in Category – Painting – $25 – Kate Weaver 
Best in Category – 3D Other –$25 – Savannah Barrett 
1st Place – $25
Painting on Paper – Kate Weaver
Printmaking – Riley Singletary
Clay Sculpture – Kate Weaver
Paper/Papier-mâché – Sheila Escareno
Jewelry – Kate Weaver
Pottery – Savannah Barrett
Jewelry – Loren Osgatharp
Pottery – Maria Davis
2nd Place – $20
Pen & Ink – Kate Weaver
Other Drawing (Oil Pastel) – Kate Weaver
Mixed Media – Luvy Miranda
Other 2D (Collage) – Caylin Dollar
Paper/Papier-mâché – Esperanza Negrete
Pottery – Riley Singletary
Other 3D (Woven) – Cayson Livingston
Other 2D Not Listed – Maria Davis
Paper/Papier-mâché – Macie Wheeler
Pottery – Katelyn Sotomayor
3rd Place – $15
Other 3D (Woven) – Kate Weaver
Paper/Papier-mâché – Kiana Roman
Honorable Mention
Other 2D (Woven) – Savannah Barrett