`EXHIBITING EXCELLENCE': THE 20TH ANNUAL HIGH SCHOOL ART SYMNPOSIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM DREW RECORD NUBMER OF ENTRIES

This clay sculpture titled "Trespassing" was made by Racheal Bettag, a student at Cape Girardeau Central High School.

This untitled batik was made by Notre Dame High School student Sara Semmler.

Nicole Gerard likes working with junk.

The Cape Girardeau Central High School senior created a basket out of scrap metal and other items from a local junk yard.

Gerard's basket was shaped with everything from refrigerator and car parts to discarded cigarette lighters and old telephone wires.

"It is heavy and it smells and it's dirty," a smiling Gerard said.

She couldn't be happier. Her piece will be among those displayed in the 20th annual High School Art Symposium at Southeast Missouri State University.

This year's show is titled, "Exhibiting Excellence," and will showcase sculptures, ceramics, fiber art, printmaking, photographs, drawings and paintings.

Gerard said the symposium gives high school artists a rare chance to show their talent in public.

"Not enough people appreciate what a high school artist can do," she said.

Southeast art professor Dr. Edwin Smith has plenty of appreciation and even admiration for the talents of high school students.

Smith started the art symposium two decades ago. "It has been my baby," he said.

Some years, the symposium featured speakers and the critiquing of artwork. "The last six or seven years, we have had a juried show," said Smith.

The quality and quantity of artwork has increased over the years, he said.

"We have come a long way from painting on saw blades and framing works of art with weathered pieces of barn wood."

This year, high school students from some 30 public, private and parochial schools in Missouri and Illinois entered the competition.

In all, 797 pieces of art were received from students in 10th through 12th grade.

"We have about 250 more pieces than we have had before," Smith said.

Last year, over 300 people attended the opening of the art show.

The judge for this year's show is Paul Walker, an artist who works in advertising with the Southeast Missourian's Targeted Publications.

It took Walker four hours to view all the pieces. He selected 108 that will be exhibited in the University Museum, beginning Sunday and running through March 6.

The museum in Memorial Hall is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

An opening reception will be held from 1-3 p.m. Sunday. Awards for first, second and third place in each category will be presented at 2 p.m.

All of the remaining artists whose work will be displayed in the museum will receive honorable mention.

Smith said the exhibition recognizes excellence in the visual arts. The goal is to provide encouragement to both high school art teachers and their students, he said.

This year's symposium is dedicated to retired art teachers at the elementary, secondary and college level in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

About 30 former teachers have been invited to the opening of the exhibition. The group includes retired art professor Jake Wells, who once headed the art department at Southeast and painted the Kent Library mural.

"Most of these teachers had Jake as a teacher," said Smith.

One of the top artists in this year's show is Sikeston High School senior Tirrell Grimsley. He created the drawing used in a poster advertising this year's exhibition.

The colored-pencil drawing is framed by Grimsley's hands. It shows the left-handed artist drawing a rose on a piece of paper, with colored pencils scattered around.

Grimsley has been drawing since he was 12. He likes working with colored pencils. "They blend real easily," he said.