Tallahassee’s Young Artists Shine at LeMoyne Arts

On Thursday, March 5^th, over 300 members of the Tallahassee community gathered in the LeMoyne Arts gardens to celebrate the opening of the 39^th Annual Mahaska Whitley Student Exhibition: High School Art and Senior Portfolio Competition. This beloved event gives high school students throughout Leon County the opportunity to display their artwork in a professional gallery. The participating young artists showcased a vast display of creative mediums ranging from ceramics, painting, sculpture and drawings to fiber arts, digital art, and photography. This year’s exhibit featured seven local schools and thirteen art teachers were represented in the show with 168 student pieces on display in one of the biggest collections in the exhibition’s long history. Among these students, 20 received a total of $7,100 in awards and college scholarships that were made possible by the generous donations of the Tallahassee community. Parents, friends, and loved ones captured pictures of the artists, celebrating their remarkable achievements and commemorating this momentous success in their artistic careers. This annual event provides the opportunity of a lifetime for high school students across Leon County to gain recognition for their hard work and talent and deepen their love and dedication to the arts.

High School Senior, Laila Alexander, and their award-winning painting, Mirror.

Founder Mahaska Whitley, esteemed former Leon High School art teacher and art development director, together with LeMoyne Arts’ founding Executive Director Dick L. Puckett, envisioned this exhibition and competition as a way to inspire local young artists to further their arts education. The LeMoyne Arts team works closely with high school art teachers to coordinate this annual show and recruits local art professionals from FAMU, FSU and TSC to serve as judges. Student works are evaluated on originality, professional quality, and aesthetic quality in a blind judging. Students in the Senior Portfolio category also submitted an artist’s statement and a selection of artworks to be evaluated for scholarship consideration. LeMoyne is grateful to this year’s panel of judges: Joe Roache, Retired Adjunct Professor from Florida Agriculture & Mechanical University, Annie Booth, Curatorial Assistant & Visitor Engagement Coordinator at Florida State University, and Barbara Cohenour, Fine Art Gallery Curator at Tallahassee State College.

350 visitors including parents, teachers, students, and community members came to celebrate the opening of the exhibition and participate in the awards ceremony, held in the Kelly Simmons Dozier Sculpture Garden and Thomas A. Guilday Celebration Gazebo. Mahaska Whitley, exhibition founder, Rosanne Wood, a member of the Leon County School Board, Michael T. “Mick” Callahan, prominent St. Petersburg attorney and founder the of Matt Callahan Memorial Scholarship Fund; and Scott McLuckie, LeMoyne Arts Board Member and President of Presenting Sponsor WestScott Construction, and founder of the WestScott Construction Scholarship Award, presented the award to the excited young artists.

This exhibit features three categories of student work, with multiple winners in each category; Emerging, featuring students in their first high school level art class, General, featuring students across multiple grade levels, and Senior Portfolio, featuring senior students who submit a portfolio and artist statement alongside their displayed work. Senior Portfolio Artist Award winners receive college scholarship money and winners in the other categories receive gift cards for art supplies to support their future creative endeavors. An additional honor, the Founder’s Award, is given to one artwork personally selected by Founder Mahaska Whitley.

The 2026 Mahaska Whitley Student Exhibition Winners and their artwork are as follows:

Senior Portfolio Artist Scholarship Awards

Brayan Lizardo, Leon High School	“Exile of the Brave”	Matt Callahan Memorial Scholarship	$1,000
Nox Murraine-Tookes, SAIL High School	“You’re My living daylight/God is in your freezing hands”	WestScott Construction Scholarship	$1,000
Laila Alexander, Chiles High School	“Mirror”	Founder’s Scholarship	$1,000
Braelyn Bell, Lincoln High School	“Devouring”	Ann Kirn Memorial Scholarship	$1,000
EmmaLin Starnes, Leon High School	“Chinese American”	Mad Dog Construction Scholarship	$1,000
Nicholas Echevarry, Florida State University Schools	“Nidana”	Alystock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz PLLC Scholarship	$500
Soriah Joseph, Rickards High School	“Happy but No Playback Available”	Family Dermatology of North Florida Scholarship	$500
Emma Murray, Maclay School	“In Another Time”	Ron Sachs & Gay Webster-Sachs Scholarship	$500

Emerging Winners

Erin Valenzuela, Lincoln High School	“The Sound of Music”
Andi Camper, SAIL High School	“Buttons”
Shelby Carr, Leon High School	“Bird Cup”

General Artist Awards

Aria Falconer, Leon High School	“Le gras Chat”	Harper Henning, SAIL High School	“Pull Over”
Ava Zupofska, Chiles High School	“Tune”	Sarah Satterfield, Leon High School	“Man vs Nature”
Roxanne Feaster, SAIL High School	“Green Forest”	Violet Carr, SAIL High School	“Marasmius Oreades Capturing its Prey”
Izzy Steward, Leon High School	“Rusty Rise”	Melody Yu, Maclay School	“Piano Hand”

Founder’s Award

Alisa Rolston, Florida State University School High School

“Present-day Bastet”

High School Senior, EmmaLin Starnes, and their award-winning painting, Chinese American

The 2026 Mahaska Whitley Student Exhibition was made possible by support from: Leon County School District, WestScott Construction, and many generous individuals from the community. Scholarship funding was made possible by Family & Friends of Matt Callahan, WestScott Construction, Mahaska & Tom Whitley, Ann Kirn Memorial Fund, Mad Dog Construction, Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz PLLC, Family Dermatology of North Florida and Ron Sachs and Gay Webster-Sachs. BLICK Art Supplies and community donations also contributed to the overwhelming success of the show. A list of all the donors and sponsors that supported this exhibit can be found on LeMoyne’s website, at www.lemoyne.org/mwse.

Scholarship recipients will have their scholarship funds sent directly to their school of choice after sending a thank you note to their scholarship donor and college information to LeMoyne Arts. To claim their scholarship, Senior Portfolio Award winners must request funding disbursed to the school of their choice within the calendar year of the award, by following the directions outlined in their scholarship award package. Scholarship package instructions for award winners can be found at: https://www.lemoyne.org/mwse

The exhibit is open to the community until Saturday, April 4^th, so please come out and support the incredible talents of our local young artists. The LeMoyne Arts Gallery is open to the public from 11 AM to 6 PM, Tuesday 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 follow on Instagram at www.instagram.com/lemoynearts/.

High School Senior, Brayan Lizardo is awarded the Matt Callahan Memorial Scholarship at the 39^th Annual Mahaska Whitley Student Exhibition. Pictured Left to Right: Sarah Raulerson, LCS School Board Member Rosanne Wood, Brayan Lizardo, Mick Callahan and grandson, and Mahaska Whitley.