18th Annual CAC Peoria Area Juried High School Art Exhibition

The Contemporary Art Center is proud to organize an exhibit showing off the outstanding work of our area high school students. All area high schools were invited to participate. The teachers from most schools usually curate and gather the students’ work and deliver it but any individual high school age student may enter on their own. We are grateful for the dedication teachers possess to promote and educate their students.

All participants and the public are welcome to attend the reception, Saturday, April 18, 6:30-8:30pm. Refreshments will be served. There is no admission, but donations are appreciated. At about 7:00pm, the award ceremony will begin with comments from the juror/judge.

Each year, a retired high school art teacher serves as the juror and judge, choosing which works will be exhibited as well as designating pieces deserving of special honor with awards of Outstanding Achievement, Honorable Mention and Merit. Besides a ribbon, each award winner receives a scholarship towards an art class at the Contemporary Art Center.

The juror/judge for this year’s exhibit is Julie Wasson, who served for 40 years as a Visual Arts Educator (K-12) at Spoon River Valley in rural Fulton County as well as an active “theatre techie” with a number of local community theaters in the surrounding counties. Presently, she is a board member for the Mid-Central Illinois Regional Scholastic Art Board and committee member of the Art on Main Fine Arts Fair in Canton. After retiring in 2016, Julie established The Hangar 750 Art Studio in Fairview where she continues to offer classes for all ages.

The annual exhibit was founded in 2004 by Executive Director William Butler and his former high school teacher Michael Hagenbuch, then newly retired from Limestone Community High School. Hagenbuch served as the first juror/judge and for some years after continued to volunteer in support of the exhibit.

The exhibit is designed to simulate typical juried art exhibits in which artists typically pay fees of $25-40 to submit work that may not be chosen by the juror for display. Students may enter up to two pieces and pay a fee of $1.00 for each piece entered. This year, 7 high schools participated, delivering 119 pieces of art created by 88 students. Julie Wasson chose 94 pieces to be exhibited and chose 21 awards.