Congratulations To Our 2025 Winners!
Best Painting - Fauvist Portrait
Yvonne Olvera
Best 3D Art & Folk Art - Ribs
Alex Carroll
Artist's story: "Made from reed, banana leaf paper, and string."
Best Drawing - Car ride
Nicole Lucero
Artist's story: "Using a photo I took in the car, I created a self portrait using chalk pastels."
Grand Prize - The Wanderers Call
Aubry Bruner - Drawing
Artist's story: "This is a portrait of Jonathan Roumie, an actor who plays Jesus in the series "The Chosen". It is made with chalk pastels on a cardboard background."
People's Choice Award - Through My Eyes
Layla Williams - Drawing
Artist's story: "This artwork is a picture of me. I wanted to get as much emotion into my portrait as I could. I always love drawing portraits and I think a person's eyes can really tell a lot about them and their personality."
Best Photography and Graphic Design - Lunar Eclipse of March 14, 2025
Wes Munn
Artist's story: "While students slept or pulled an all-nighter for exams, I stayed up 1 AM to 5 AM with my telescope and captured the entirety of the lunar eclipse. What a sight! Then reported to work the next day at Academic Advisement."
Honorable Mention - Through their eyes
Artist's story: "I used gouache as watercolor to help with blending and colored pencils to add details and texture like shadows."
2025 MTC Library Art Contest Entries
Through their eyes
Adrian Robinson - Painting | Drawing
Artist's story: "I used gouache as watercolor to help with blending and colored pencils to add details and texture like shadows."
Ribs
Alex Carroll - Three-dimensional art & folk art
Artist's story: "Made from reed, banana leaf paper, and string."
Beloved Son
Alex Carroll - Photography & Graphic Design
Artist's story: "This is my beloved cat, Salem. He is an 11 year old manx cat, and this is how he likes to nap."
Workspace
Rae Bundrick - Painting
Self- hallucination
Andre Griffin - Drawing
Artist's story: "I worked with chalk pastels to create a surrealistic self portrait."
Roses of life
Amber Jackson - Painting
Artist's story: "Through this painting I wanted show that it's okay to stop in smell the flowers."
Self-discovery
Amber Jackson - Painting
Artist's story: "This painting depicts a women re-discovering herself."
Serenity
Amber Jackson - 3D Art & Folk Art
Artist's story: "This is a yard painting that is inspired by the folk art of the Huichol tribe."
The creation
Amber Jackson - Painting
Artist's story: "This is a collage painting that highlights the story of Adam and Eve."
Feed Your Imagination
Kristina Holman-Bean - Painting
Bugging Out
Naomi Wilkins - Drawing
Self Portrait
Elliot Fitzgerald - Drawing
Artist's story: "Self portrait created with sharpie marker and graphite on an acrylic background. Inspired by the 1979 album cover by UFO, Strangers in the Night."
Paper Bag Mask in the Pavilion
Elliot Fitzgerald - Photography & Graphic Design
Artist's story: "This is a showcase of two mediums, a paper bag mask decorated with sharpies and a monochromatic photograph."
Loomingly Large
Chaniya Turner - Drawing
Artist's story: "An up-close large portrait of myself using chalk pastels."
Super Superb
Aubry Bruner - Photography & graphic design
Artist's story: "This is a photograph of a Superb Starling."
Whimsical Red
Aubry Bruner - 3D Art & Folk Art
Artist's story: "This is an abstract ceramic piece that was created to make sound. It has elements drawn from mushrooms and strawberries."
The World Through My Eyes
Aubry Bruner - Drawing
Artist's story: "This is a self-portrait created using graphite, ink, water color, and color pencil. The vibrant background represents how I see the world and how my brain works. It contrasts with the grayscale portrait. It is currently on the board Mrs. Sheely has."
The Vestiges of Fall
Layla Williams - Painting
Artist's story: "This is an acrylic painting of a scene in my neighborhood on the last day of Fall. It’s is a fishing lake so there is a dock and house in the distances. The wind was really cool that day and I always miss the peacefulness of the lake after Fall."
The Grip of Death
Yvonne Olvera - Drawing
Sword x Crow
Yvonne Olvera - Drawing
Palette with eye
Kyle Cooper - Painting
Artist's story: "watercolor painting of a clay palette (with an eye) that I sculpted for class."
The lines of me
Nicole Lucero - Photography & graphic design
Artist's story: "A digital self portrait created in google drawing."
Lurking
Zoe Faucette - Photography & graphic design
Car ride
Nicole Lucero - Drawing
Artist's story: "Using a photo I took in the car, I created a self portrait using chalk pastels."
Chase
Breanna Lundin - Painting
Pick Your Posion
Aubry Bruner - Drawing
Artist's story: "This is a drawing merging a whiskey bottle with a king cobra. It is on the board Mrs. Sheely has."
Mini Me
Zoe Faucette - Drawing
Artist's story: "Paper doll made with colored pencils and mini brads."
Backyard Discoveries
Zoe Faucette - Photography & graphic design
Artist's story: "A collection of cyanotypes."
Periwinkle Party
Zoe Faucette - Three-dimensional art & folk art
Artist's story: "A collection of positively periwinkle ceramics!"
Tangled
Nicole Lucero - Three-dimensional art & folk art
Hibiscus
Naomi Wilkins - Painting
As Prometheus Lays
Riley Cook - Painting
Artist's story: "Prometheus pays for his crimes of liberating humans through fire. A hero and a savior will now die time and time again as punishment for his defiance of the gods."
Lips
Nicole Lucero - Drawing
Breaking Free
Nicole Lucero - Drawing
Artist's story: "This drawing done in ink represents breaking free from alcoholism. The butterfly is breaking the bottle and has transformed into something beautiful."
Feeling blue
Naomi Wilkins - Painting
Ceramic Flame
Kefira Hall - Three-dimensional art & folk art
Artist's story: "This peice is personal to me because it is a representation of my spark and my light being reignited."
Wildflowers
Evelyn Kiser - Painting
Layla
Cheyenne Alibocas - Painting
Artist's story: "I love animals! During COVID, I decided to try painting a dog and that is where Layla was "born". I decided on a Dalmatian because I have always been intrigued by them, and the use of blue, purple, and orange to represent me (my favorite colors)."
Cat in a Wreath
Cheyenne Alibocas - Painting
Artist's story: "Cat in a Wreath is a twist on my normal hobby of making floral or mesh wreaths, this time painted with a cute cat in the center!"
Unititled 2
Ava Perez - Photography & graphic design
Untitled 1
Ava Perez - Photography & graphic design
Baby Girl
Amber Jackson - Drawing
Artist's story: "This piece is a chalk pastel drawing of my daughter when she a baby."
Comet Tsuchinshan C/2023 A3 over Lake Murray, SC - October 13, 2024
Wes Munn - Photography & Graphic Design
Artist's story: On the Irmo side of Lake Murray Dam, surrounded by spectators looking hard for the comet. I captured this after sunset Sunday evening of October 13, 2024 with my old DSLR while helping a tourist from Germany find the comet.
Acrylic Fish Painting
Kefira Hall - Painting
Artist's story: "This fish is known as a Betta fish it embodies the essence of beauty and resilience. I wanted to capture the illuminances of Marine life in the deepest parts of the sea. I placed colors on the scales of the fish to achieve light and dark contrast."
Fish
Rebecca Wall - Painting
Oasis of Knowledge at MTC
Zoraja Austin - Painting
Artist's story: "This scene depicts students of Midlands Technical College utilizing the Library services. The goal of this piece is to highlight the community aspect of our libraries and how they bring students together."
Self-Portrait
Rae Bundrick - Painting
Roses for Valentines
Rae Bundrick - Painting
Workspace
Rae Bundrick - Painting
Through My Eyes
Layla Williams - Drawing
Artist's story: "This artwork is a picture of me. I wanted to get as much emotion into my portrait as I could. I always love drawing portraits and I think a person's eyes can really tell a lot about them and their personality."
Three AM
Naomi Wilkins - Drawing
Realism Portrait
Yvonne Olvera - Drawing
Artist's story: "The drawing portrays a close up portrait of me, I used charcoal and white charcoal to create my portrait."
Deep Sea
Palmer Kinsey - 3D Art & Folk Art
Artist's story: "This piece was inspired by life around deep sea volcanic vents."
The Wanderers Call
Aubry Bruner - Drawing
Artist's story: "This is a portrait of Jonathan Roumie, an actor who plays Jesus in the series "The Chosen". It is made with chalk pastels on a cardboard background."
Mind and Soul
Jasemine Scott - Photography & Graphic Design
Artist's story: "This artwork is used to display all the things that a person could be drawn to in a library. These are the different things that led me to the library."
Plastic Straws
Victoria Delgado - Painting
Artist's story: “I don’t think that plastic is going to affect the shark very much as they’re eating, as they’re munching their way through the ocean,’'
What’s it feel like?
Synia Lamb - Drawing
Artist's story: "This was originally for my 19th birthday on February 9th. This artwork shows how I am not afraid to show the colorful things I go through in life but I still need to act mature and stay calm."
Golden Freestanding
Joi Smith - 3D Art & Folk Art
Self Portrait
Joi Smith - Drawing
To Be a Woman
Victoria Delgado - Painting
Artist's story: "Its a painting of apples representing the way women are perceived and treated in the media and society."
Untitled (Stainglass)
Andrew Chelton - 3D Art & Folk Art
Artist's story: "An artists first go at the medium."
Hexagonal Order
Andrew Chelton - 3D Art & Folk Art
Artist's story: "A love of Hexagons and urge to play with them."
Lemur catta
Rachel Reed - Painting
Artist's story: "I began painting in quarantine, 2020. I focused on animals, and I enjoy trying to create the textures and minute details. Ring-tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta) were one of my favorite animals to work with as a zookeeper, and one of my earliest paintings."
Water Color Painting of Fruit
Kefira Hall - Painting
Artist's story: "When creating this painting the quote 'food for thought' roamed in my head. Instead of food I created the imagery of fruit for thought. The fruit represent knowledge, thoughts and ideas that help your mind to advance."
He's In My Closet
Naomi Wilkins - Photography & Graphic Design
Fruit Fallin'
Sarah Goss - Painting
Artist's story: "I wanted the fruits to look like they were rolling across the page"
Fractured Fruitfulness
Layla Williams - Painting
Artist's story: "This is a cubist still life painting of a table scene. An overflowing bowl or oranges sits next to a vase of flowers. I wanted to incorporate receptive reflections to make an effect similar to dreams which are often incomplete altered realities."
Feeling blue
Naomi Wilkins - Painting
Fauvist Portrait
Yvonne Olvera - Painting
Dream Chaser
Nicole Brazell - Photography & Graphic Design
Artist's story: "A moment in time captured that depicts a persons past, present & future all in one. With the blur of the background being the past that is gone, the moment in the present captured of my son with his thoughts and the color depicting a bright future."
Día De Los Muertos
Yvonne Olvera - Painting
Consumed by Luxury: A Plea Against Poaching
Layla Williams - Drawing
Artist's story: "My artwork displays an alligator hand bag that is consuming a hand. I wanted to display themes of anti poaching as alligators and other reptiles continue to be hunted for their scales to make luxury goods for vain consumers."
Cali
Rebecca Wall - Painting
Artist's story: "This is a Fauvist style painting based on a photo of my friend Cali. The bright colors were inspired by her vibrant, energetic personality."
The Thrill of the Fight
Rachel Reed - Painting
Artist's story: "I began painting in quarantine, 2020. I focused on animals, my favorite creatures, and I enjoy trying to create the textures and minute details. This is one the of first mini canvases I painted, of my favorite animal, the beautiful Bengal tiger."
Female Mourner Statue
Kyle Cooper - Painting
Artist's story: "Painting of a Female Mourner statue from a Paris cemetery"
Masterfully Merged
Chaniya Turner - Drawing
Artist's story: "When man meets nature. A sunflower lamp."
Sour Lemons
Joi Smith - Drawing
Magnificently Little Creatures
Layla Williams - Drawing
Artist's story: "This is a mixed media piece and I used watercolors and chalks to make most of the background. I also used alcohol markers, glue, and scrapbooking materials to collage different insects into a vibrant composition. I wanted to showcase their uniqueness"
Lunar Eclipse of March 14, 2025
Wes Munn - Photography & Graphic Design
Artist's story: "While students slept or pulled an all-nighter for exams, I stayed up 1 AM to 5 AM with my telescope and captured the entirety of the lunar eclipse. What a sight! Then reported to work the next day at Academic Advisement."
Flight of the Maverick
Wes Munn - Photography & Graphic Design
Artist's story: "I'm an Academic Advisor for Healthcare but did I mention I design, build, and fly large rockets carrying sensors and camera payloads? Make your advisement appointment and you can see the Maverick in my office! Designed for my love of MTC!"
Fauvist Painting
Kefira Hall - Painting
Artist's story: "In this Fauvist painting I wanted to go with a bold choice of bright colors, using the darker colors as accents."
