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National Library Week Art Contest

2024 MTC Library Art Contest Winners

Needlefelted Spoonbill

Winner - Best Overall

Brenda Johnson

Artist's story: "A needle felted spoon bill. Each feather was hand felted, wire spun, brushed, glued, and trimmed."

Image of needle felted spoon bill

Butterflies on the moon

Winner - Best Painting

André Griffin 

Image of monarch butterflies flying around a yellow moon

Grasp

Winner - Best Drawing

Riley Cook 

Artist's story: "Made with ballpoint pen and highlighter."

Image of a drawing of a person holding their arms around their waist surrounded by faces

An Iconic Duo

Winner - Best Three-Dimensional Art & Folk Art

Zoe Faucette

Artist's story: "A combination of my sculptural and pottery skills all wrapped up into an iconic duo: a raccoon and his trashcan!"

Two small sculptures: a trash can and a raccoon

Devona

Winner - Best Photography & Graphic Design

Ava Perez 

Artist's story: "This peice is inspired by my biggest supporter and hero, my abuela."

Image of white orchids against a black background

Incandescence

Winner - Best Photography & Graphic Design

Ava Perez 

Black and white image of a wrinkled hand by a music sheet

Sanctuary

Winner - Best Photography & Graphic Design

Ava Perez 

Image of a nest in trees

Ne Barbaros Cedamus

Winner - People's Choice Award

Mary Elaine Kent 

Artist's story: "Ne Barbaros Cedamus means "let us not yield to barbarians" in Latin. This piece represents the importance of staying true to what you believe in despite outside forces that try to break you from who you truly are."

image of two black hands touching against a backdrop collage of eyes

2024 MTC Library Art Contest Entries

Afforest

Brenda Johnson - Painting

Artist's story: "This painting was created for Hispanic heritage month, heavy gel was used to add texture, real sand was added for grit to the path, and seed beads were embroidered onto the dress. The grass and some leaves were piped onto the canvas like icing."

Painting of grassy meadow with a tree and two women and two children walking

A hand full of honey

André Griffin - Painting

a moth flew by

Rhonda Grego - Photography & Graphic Design

Artist's story: "Congaree National Park, May 20, 2023, just before dark. The late day sun was bright and slant, lighting up a tangle of webs and woods beyond the boardwalk when a moth flew across frame, adding the soft beat of feathered wings brushing by."

An Iconic Duo

Zoe Faucette - Three-Dimensional Art & Folk Art

Artist's story: "A combination of my sculptural and pottery skills all wrapped up into an iconic duo: a raccoon and his trashcan!"

Two small sculptures: a trash can and a raccoon

Butterflies on the moon

André Griffin - Painting

Celestial Guardian

Zoe Faucette - Painting

Artist's story: "A watercolor piece I had no real thought going into. I like raccoons, I like space, here's a space raccoon."

CMYK Balloon Dogs

Mary Elaine Kent - Painting Photography & graphic design
 
Artist's story: "This is a linocut print portraying four balloon dogs in cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink. CMYK is the industry standard color space used in commercial printing presses to produce printed materials."

Devona

Ava Perez - Photography & Graphic Design

Artist's story: "This peice is inspired by my biggest supporter and hero, my abuela."

Embrace

Riley Cook - Drawing

Artist's story: "Made with ballpoint pen."

Float

Valentina Phan - Three-dimensional art & folk art

Flowers for mom

Shelby Jackson - Painting

Grasp

Riley Cook - Drawing

Artist's story: "Made with ballpoint pen and highlighter."

Hidden

Valentina Phan - Photography & graphic design

Ignitus

Zoe Faucette - Three-Dimensional Art & Folk Art

Artist's story: "A sculpture of a character from one of my favorite video game trilogies: The Legend of Spyro. Made with red earthen clay and bisque fired."

Incandescence

Ava Perez - Photography & Graphic Design

Intrigue

Kimberly Furry - Painting (Acrylic on wood)

Artist's story: "Reflective, capacious, specular; glass has been a muse for my artwork for many years. The capacity for hidden imagery within subtle refractions of light; and the gentle gradations of color exuding from a clear, color-less material, have captivated my painterly curiosity. I have painted pictorial biographies within bell-jars before, but wanted to expand and create a scene of impossibility and discovery within a bell jar. This piece of art represents relocating to a new city and discovering new scenery and past-times. I have never lived near a body of water before and that I ever would. The culture of going to the beach for a day trip alludes to a child-like playfulness that I only saw depicted in movies. Living here now, I look forward to creating beach trip memories my children while we explore and discovery each beaches’ mysteries and nuances."

Kraven's Last Hunt

Shelby Jackson - Painting

Lion

Brenda Johnson - Photography & Graphic Design

Artist's story: "river bank zoos male lion taken with a 500mm lens canon & camera."

Melanated figure

André Griffin - Painting

Modern Abstract Rainbow

Sara Rabieh - Painting

MTC Commercial Graphics Communications Logo

Mary Elaine Kent - Photography & graphic design

Artist's story: "This is a logo I created in my CGC 220 class. We were assigned to design a logo for the commercial graphic communications program that we then screen-printed. This project taught us how to design and output files for complex screen prints."

Ne Barbaros Cedamus

Mary Elaine Kent - Painting

Artist's story: "Ne Barbaros Cedamus means "let us not yield to barbarians" in Latin. This piece represents the importance of staying true to what you believe in despite outside forces that try to break you from who you truly are."

Needlefelted Spoonbill

Brenda Johnson - Three-Dimensional Art & Folk Art

Artist's story: "A needle felted spoon bill. Each feather was hand felted, wire spun, brushed, glued, and trimmed."

Painting of a Flower

Joshua Dyckes - Painting

Artist's story: "A simple painting made from last semester"

Painting of a Tree

Joshua Dyckes - Painting

Artist's story: "A simple assignment I've done last semester"

Persephone’s story

André Griffin - Painting

Piranha plants

Shelby Jackson - Painting

Pomegranates

André Griffin - Painting

Print is Everywhere

Mary Elaine Kent - Painting, Photography & graphic design

Artist's story: "Split fountain linocut print."

Reach

Riley Cook - Drawing

Artist's story: "Made with chalk pastel, oil pastel, and splashes of gouache paint."

Sanctuary

Ava Perez - Photography & Graphic Design

Silly Little Sea Lion

Mary Elaine Kent - Drawing

Artist's story:  "This is a digital collage illustration I made from inspiration of the works of Eric Carle."

Smiley face

Brenda Johnson - Drawing

sun pun

Rhonda Grego - Photography & Graphic Design

Snow Leopard

Mariana Hall - Drawing

Artist's story: "I created this using stippling."

Spirit of Vengeance

Shelby Jackson - Painting

Sunflower

Sara Rabieh - Painting

Venom is back

Shelby Jackson - Painting

Weight of Responsibility

Shelby Jackson - Painting

Witches Finger Collection

Abby Ricard - Three-Dimensional Art & Folk Art

Artist's story: "I blacked out in Ceramics Class and woke up with a collection of witches fingers."

Yias Yias Plant

Shelby Jackson - Painting

MTC Library National Library Week Art Contest Guidelines

MTC Library and the MTC Foundation are sponsoring an art contest supporting the theme of National Library Week, "Ready, Set, Library!" Enter works that inspire you to see the world from many perspectives.

 

Contest Guidelines:

The contest is open to current students, faculty, and staff of Midlands Technical College.

The categories for submission are:

  • painting,
  • drawing,
  • three-dimensional art & folk art, and
  • photography & graphic design.

Entries must not have been submitted for previous MTC Library Art Contests.

Entries must be prepared for display.

Submissions must be received between March 18th and April 12th, and must be accompanied by a digitally signed submission form that certifies the work is the entrant’s original.

 

Prizes:

A panel of judges will decide the winners for each category and for the grand prize. An online vote will determine the winner of the People's Choice award. 

Grand Prize - $100.00 Gift Certificate

Category Winners - $25.00 Gift Certificates (4 Categories)

People’s Choice - $25.00 Gift Certificate

 

Award Presentation:

Prizes will be awarded on Wednesday, April 17th, at 2:00 pm at Airport Library, AC 225.

Questions?

For questions about the art contest, contact Aleck Williams.

williamsaf@midlandstech.edu

803-822-3678

 


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