Youth Art Exhibition Now Open at LCVA

The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts (LCVA) is proud to present the Start with Art, Learn for Life: The Annual Area Youth Art Exhibition. On Sunday, March 16, the LCVA hosted an opening reception from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Free and open to the public; friends, family, and community members are invited to the reception. The works will remain on view through April 28 in the lower level at the LCVA. The reception and exhibition are made possible by generous support from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund

Baileigh Meinhard, a third grader at Cumberland Elementary School, is one of hundreds of young artists in the region whose work (Winter Fox) will be displayed at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts in downtown Farmville. The Annual Area Youth Art Exhibition opened with a free, public reception on Sunday, March 16 from 2 – 4 p.m. Meinhard’s art teacher is Emily Overstreet.

This is the thirteenth year the LCVA has organized and hosted the largest youth art exhibition in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This year’s exhibition includes works by 1580 preK-12 students from 36 public, private, and home schools in nine counties with the efforts of 38 art teachers (14 who are Longwood University Alumni). Participating counties include Amelia, Appomattox, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Powhatan, and Prince Edward.

The following teachers have assisted by preparing and submitting their students’ work for the 2014 exhibition: Jennifer Abruzzo (Buckingham County High School), Nancy Adkins (Five County Home School), Jenifer Ashby (Powhatan Junior High School), Kathryn Clarke (Bacon District Elementary School and Phenix Elementary School), Lisa Conner (Pocahontas Elementary School), Nina Crosswhite (Prince Edward County Middle School), Kim Dalton (Pocahontas Middle School), Laura Dedmond ’08, (Buckingham County Elementary School), Cassie Duarte (Central High School), Carol Edmonson ’82, (Prince Edward County Elementary School), Monica Evans (Appomattox County Middle School), Jessi Fleisher ’04 (Lunenburg Middle School), Deborah Wilkinson Ford ’76 (Amelia County High School), Vicki Fulcher (New Life Christian Academy and New Life Learning Center), Amanda Haymans ’12 (Buckingham County Preschool), David Hennessey ’12 (Prince Edward County High School), Patricia Herring ’80 (Nottoway Middle School), Kristin Jackson (Crewe Primary School and Burkeville Elementary School), Faith A. Jones (Appomattox County High School), Ronda Jones ’78 (Cumberland Middle School), Jean Jeter Kunath (Central High School), Forrest Layne (Fuqua School), Jennifer Logan (Central Virginia Christian School), Amy McManus (Powhatan High School), Rose Mezzatesta (Buckingham County Primary School), Marley Midkiff (Nottoway Intermediate School), Alyson Napier (Nottoway High School), Emily Overstreet ’06 (Cumberland Elementary School), Toni Puckett (Five County Home School), Debbie Quinn ’92 (Blackstone Primary School), Janice Stanley ’92 (Cumberland High School), Carla Terry ’09 (Amelia County Middle School), Joy Utzinger (Prince Edward County Elementary School), Jill Ward (Powhatan High School), Mary Webster (Powhatan Elementary School), Lindsay Wheeler ’08 (Randolph Henry High School), Stephanie Wirt ’97(Powhatan High School), and Valeri York (Appomattox Primary School).

“Youth Art Month has always given counties in the area a unique opportunity to display artwork from all levels,” said Lindsay Wheeler ’08, art teacher at Randolph-Henry High School in Charlotte County. “Since I was a student at Longwood, I have seen the show set up from both sides and the amount of work that goes into the show is unreal, but it’s so worth it when you see the look on the faces of the artists.”

In addition to works in the lower level, the Main Street Gallery will feature Seven Habitats, an installation comprised of works created with temper paint, paper, plates, glue, tissue paper, fabric, sticks, wood, and more. All 950 students from Prince Edward Elementary School in grades pre-K through fourth grade contributed to the project, which was coordinated by art teachers Joy Utzinger and Carol Edmonson (Longwood ‘82). Students participated in individual and group projects relating to seven habitats— rainforest, freshwater pond, salt water, Polar Regions, grasslands/African Savannah, desert, and forest/ woodland habitat. Many projects directly correlate to grade-level SOLs for science, social studies, and visual arts. .

The school programs educator position is responsible for organizing the Annual Area Youth Art Exhibition. A campaign called ART10 (art to the power of 10) is currently raising money for an endowment to support this position long term. To date, the LCVA has raised $214k of the $350k goal needed. The LCVA hopes 100 people will give $1,000 each to reach this $100,000 goal by April 26, when a black-tie event has been planned to celebrate. To become one of the 100 sponsors for the ART10 campaign, please contact Beverley Roberts, LCVA Program Manager at (434) 395-2551.

The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts is located at 129 N. Main Street in downtown Farmville. Admission is free.