LeMoyne Announces 2024 High School Art Award Winners

Family, friends and nearly 300 members of the community gathered at LeMoyne for the 37th Mahaska Whitley Student Exhibition: High School Art and Senior Portfolio Competition on Thursday evening, March 7. This celebrated annual event gives high school students the opportunity to display their best work in an art gallery. 137 young artists participated this year in an eclectic display of artwork that included ceramics, paintings, sculpture, drawings, costuming, fiber arts, digital art, and photography. This year, 24 Leon County High School students are receiving a total of $10,600 in awards and college scholarships. The total award value is determined by generous community support.
Parents and friends captured pictures of the artists, celebrating their remarkable achievements. This annual event provides an opportunity for high school students from across Leon County to gain recognition for their hard work and talent.
Entering this exhibition introduces students to the process of professional presentation and gives them an opportunity to have their art portfolios reviewed by art industry professionals. In awarding scholarships and other prizes to competition winners, LeMoyne Arts’ annual Mahaska Whitley Student Exhibition supports and encourages local young artists to continue to develop their talents and to pursue a life-long interest in art.
Founder Mahaska Whitley, esteemed former Leon High School art teacher and art department director, together with LeMoyne Arts’ founding Executive Director Dick L. Puckett, envisioned this exhibit and competition as a way to inspire local young artists to further their arts education.
LeMoyne works closely with high school art teachers to coordinate this annual show, and recruits local arts professionals to serve as judges. Works are judged on originality, professional quality, and aesthetic quality. Entire senior portfolios were also evaluated for scholarship consideration. In this fair and equal process, judges do not know the name of the student, their school, or any identifying Information. LeMoyne is thankful to this year’s panel of judges; Carrie Ann Baade from Florida State University, Dr. Nan Liu from Florida Agriculture & Mechanical University, and Barbara Cohenour from Tallahassee Community College.
Over 250 parents, teachers and students gathered in the beautifully renovated garden and gazebo to attend the awards ceremony, surrounded by the fountains and sculptures from LeMoyne’s permanent collection. As dusk settled, lanterns throughout the landscaping illuminated the garden, sculptures, gazebo and paths.
Mahaska Whitley, exhibition founder; Rocky Hanna, Superintendent of schools for Leon County; Roseanne Wood, Leon County School Board Member, Michael T. “Mick” Callahan, prominent St. Petersburg attorney and founder of the Matt Callahan Memorial Scholarship Fund; and Scott McLuckie, LeMoyne Arts Board Member, President of Presenting Sponsor WestScott Construction, and founder of the WestScott Construction Scholarship Award, presented the awards to the excited young artists.
There are a total of four awards categories, with multiple winners in each category except for the Founder’s Award, which has only one winner personally selected by Founder Mahaska Whitley. Senior Portfolio Artist Award winners receive scholarship money for college. Winners in the other categories earn gift cards for art supplies.

The 2024 Mahaska Whitley Student Exhibition Winners and their artwork are as follows.

Founder’s Award
Paige Guarraia (Leon)     "Chicken of the Woods"

Senior Portfolio Artist Scholarship Awards
Desiree Scorsone (Lincoln)     Matt Callahan Memorial     $1000     “Black Beauty”
Amelie Pelham (FSUS)     Ann Kirn Memorial     $1000     “Welcome”
Katherine Gorkov (Maclay)     WestScott Construction     $1000     “Coming Down”
Serendipity Thompson (SAIL)     Leon County Schools     $1000     “*Honk Honk* Please Stop Clowning!”
Samantha Cheatham (Leon)     Leon County Schools     $1000      “Same Old Thing”
Nabrea Hardy (Lincoln)     Leon County Schools     $1000      “Divine Comedy”
Blake Simmons (Lincoln)     Leon County Schools     $1000    “Balthazar”
Mary Allen (SAIL)     Founder’s Scholarship     $1000     "Starry Eyed"
Mark Roberts (SAIL)     Mad Dog Construction     $500      “Saint Guinefort & The Infant”
Citrus Thomas (SAIL)     Prime Meridian Bank     $500      "What You See (Is What You Get)"
Lexi Fairbanks (Lincoln)     Apalachee Center     $500     "Scrump Bonnie"
Liana Rieger (Leon)     Capital City Bank     $500      "The Great Migration"

Emerging Artists-Awards
      Andrew Cox (SAIL)                             "W.B.B."
      Rithmika Machery (Lincoln)              "Places of Meaning - Past, Present, Future”
      Naijah Zimmerman (FSUS)               “Fourteen”
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General Artist Awards
      Yohan Hopgood (Lincoln)                 “Eczemice”
      EmmaLin Starnes (Leon)                   “A Lazy Afternoon”
      Srivani Sankuratri (FSUS)                  “Untitled”
      Ivy Carlson (FSUS)                              “Untitled”
      Laila Alexander (Chiles)                     “Emerging”
      Brandon Greenwalt (SAIL)                 “Page 1”
      Emily Hawkins (Maclay)                     “Walk in the Woods”
      Jackson Brann (SAIL)                         “The Pale Flame Beast Emerges”
 
The 2024 Mahaska Whitley Student Exhibition was made possible by support from: Matt Callahan Family & friends, Laurie & Kelly Dozier, Leon County School District, WestScott Construction, Mad Dog Construction, Ann Kirn Memorial Fund, Capital City Bank, Apalachee Center, Target Print & Mail, Uptown Café, BLICK Art Materials, and many others. A list of all the donors and sponsors that made this exhibit possible can be found on LeMoyne’s website, at lemoyne.org/mwse.
The exhibit is open to the community until March 30th, so please come out to support the amazing talents of our local young artists. The LeMoyne Arts Gallery is open to the public from  11 AM to 6 PM, Monday through Saturday.
For exhibits, events, classes and more, visit www.LeMoyne.org. To get regular updates, subscribe to LeMoyne’s email newsletter and “like” its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lemoynearts/ or connect on Instagram at www.instagram.com/lemoynearts/
About LeMoyne Arts:
LeMoyne Arts has been at the heart of Tallahassee’s cultural and visual arts for over 60 years.  Its signature events are an important part of our community’s cultural life. LeMoyne has made the arts more accessible to people of all ages and economic levels, promoted and supported the work of local artists, and generated millions of dollars for our local economy. LeMoyne’s education programs have nurtured the artistic talent of four generations of Tallahassee families.  LeMoyne Arts is thankful for programming support from COCA, Leon County, Visit Tallahassee, Florida Arts & Culture, and the City of Tallahassee.
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