A Different Kind of Mermaid
Sierra Kazin
Johns Creek High School Junior
copic marker and matt acrylic on illustration board
Bonnie Lovell, instructor

2016 Atlanta High School Art Exhibition (AHSAE) Award Winners

March 19 – April 3, 2016

This exhibition highlights some of the best art work of Georgia’s youth and will be on temporary view in the OUMA Hall Gallery, March 19 through April 3, 2016.

Previously known as the “Youth Art Exhibit,” this exhibition was a staple of the Piedmont Park Arts Festival in the 1970s and 80s. From more than 700 submissions each year, AHSAE selects approximately 100 works of art to be on view during the Atlanta Dogwood Festival. OUMA then exhibits a selection of the award and honorable mention winners. Since 1972, the program has reached over 40,000 students and 550 teachers in 14 regional Atlanta counties, and continues to grow each year. AHSAE is organized by Cheryl Myrbo, project director since 1999.

The Dogwood Festival affords accessibility and visibility for the high school art to as many as 300,000 visitors each season. Since 2009, the AHSAE has been staged in the Piedmont Park Conservancy Community Center, an indoor space that surrounds the work with a formal atmosphere in contrast to the casual outdoor festival venue. Beginning in 1999, student winners were rewarded with educational opportunities. This year, award-winning artists will receive nearly $40,000 worth of higher education opportunities. The AHSAE itself is a seven-time award winner, earning a Gold from the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) for the 2015 Atlanta Dogwood Festival.  For the 6th consecutive year, on the last day of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, the AHSAE will host a scrimmage of the annual “Art Throwdown,” Atlanta’s interscholastic high school art competition. The event will take place on the lawn in front of the Community Center with live model timed sketching, themed sketching, face-to-face portraiture and landscape drawing of Piedmont Park. Find more information here.