2022 Scholastic Art Competition features young artists from across region

The Abraham Art Gallery, located on the atrium level of the Wayland Baptist University Learning Resource Center library in Plainview, is exhibiting the West Texas Regional 2022 Scholastic Art Competition, featuring more than 300 works of art from students, grades 7 through 12, from across regional Texas counties.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Competition was founded in 1923 to celebrate and support the imagination, insight and perspective of youth in the community. With the help of the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to distinguishing students who demonstrate outstanding artistic and literary talent, students and educators alike are encouraged in the creative process.

Entries for judging this year included drawings, paintings, sculpture, photography, digital art and mixed media, comic art, fashion and ceramics. Winners awarded the Gold Key will continue on to be judged in New York in the National Scholastic Art Competition, with opportunities for students to receive further publication, scholarship grants, cash or honor awards, and participate in the National Scholastic Exhibition. 

University Curator and Director of Art for Wayland, the Abraham Art Gallery and Museum of the Llano Estacado, Candace Keller, Ph.D., serves as the West Texas Regional Director and has worked with the Scholastic organization to host the Art Competition for more than 20 years. The Wayland Department of Art and the Plainview Cultural Arts Council, Inc., are also regional sponsors for the event.