The Livingston Overton Chamber of Commerce will display artwork from local high school students starting Monday.
Overton Arts Council President Tim Richardson said the artwork on display will be submissions from the Libby Allen High School Art Contest. Richardson said the contest is designed to encourage students to pursue careers in art.
“We wanted the kids to understand that there are career paths open to them through the arts that will be personally enriching but also professionally enriching to them,” Richardson said. “We want them to be encouraged and to have a practical opportunity to sort of engage with art in that way.”
Richardson said many different types of artwork will be on display including acrylic paintings, oil paintings, colored pencil drawings, and mixed media. Richardson said though many of the students will never become Picasso or Van Gough creating art has its benefits.
“Just by practicing art, just by pursuing art, just by trying art, it allows you to use a different part of your brain and it allows you to think about creative problem-solving in a way that you otherwise wouldn’t,” Richardson said.
Richardson said the contest is named after Libby Allen who has taught art to students in Overton County for 28 years. Richardson said there was no one more deserving to name the contest after than her.
“As the arts council was getting started and we wanted to do things to help kids in the county we wanted to improve art education and exposure to art and we were just casting out about ways to do that,” Richardson said. “We thought well the very first thing we wanted to do was start this high school art competition and we thought who better to name it after than Libby Allen who is so beloved in this community and has done so much to promote art education so far.”
Richardson said the contest will award several monetary prizes including a $1,000 scholarship to Tennesse Tech for one Overton County senior. Winners of the contest will be announced during an award ceremony on Saturday, April 12, at 1pm.
