2024 Elementary / Middle / High School Annual Student Show!

April 8th – April 20th, 2024

The Octagon Center for the Arts highlights artwork by local elementary, middle, and high school students annually.

2024 Octagon Annual Kindergarten / Elementary / Middle School Digital Show!

High School Show Award Winners

Congratulations to the winning seniors of our High School show! We want to thank our sponsors, the Brown Family Endowment Fund, the Stone Family Endowment Fund, and Ames Silversmithing for making these awards possible!

The Winners (by category):

Jeffrey L. Brown Best In Show Award: “Georgia” by Josilyn Leiding

Jeffrey L. Brown Best Digital Media/Photography Award: “The Crow Animation” by Raine McKeller

David Burton Stone Best 3D/Sculpture Award: “Face Vase” by Jaci Canon

David Burton Stone Best Drawing Award: “Grow Flowers in the Darkest Parts of You” by Kelsey Nelson

David Burton Stone Best Painting Award: “Portrait of the Self” by Aleesia Miller

Ames Silversmithing “Sponsor’s Choice Award” 1: “Lost Wax Ring” by Cecelia Pelzer

Ames Silversmithing “Sponsor’s Choice Award” 2: “Marriage Ring” by Jakob Anderson

Ames Silversmithing “Sponsor’s Choice Award” 3: “Earrings” by Ella Strudthoff

GRADES K – 8 (Virtual):

IMPORTANT DATES:

Google Form Submission Due: 5pm, Saturday, March 30, 2024
Virtual Show Opening in the Community Gallery: Monday, April 8, 2024
Virtual Show will be uploaded to our YouTube page: Monday, April 8, 2024
Reception: Monday, April 8, 2024, 5:00-6:00pm in the Community Gallery.
Virtual Show Closing in the Community Gallery: Saturday, April 20, 2024

GRADES 9 – 12:

IMPORTANT DATES:

Google Form Submission Due: 5pm, Saturday, March 30, 2024
Final Artwork Delivery Date: 5pm, Tuesday April 2, 2024.
Show Opening in the Community Gallery: Monday, April 8, 2024
Reception: Monday, April 8, 2024, 5:00-6:00pm in the Community Gallery. Our juror will announce high school awards and share comments on the show.
Show Closing in the Community Gallery: Saturday, April 20, 2024

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:

Eligible schools or homeschools must be located within 20 miles from Ames.
All submitted artwork must be entered into the Online Form by March 30th at 5:00 pm to be included in the show.
Each student may submit one (1) piece to exhibit. There is otherwise no limit to the number of submissions a school may submit.
All media will be accepted.
*AI generated Images — Images created or enhanced by use of artificial intelligence (AI) will not be accepted into this show. If we suspect an entry was created or enhanced using an AI program, we will reach out for more information. We reserve the right to disqualify a submission if we suspect the involvement of AI.
*This excludes the use of photography filters.

Note: Photographic reproduction of entries may be used or copied by the Octagon Center for the Arts, without further agreement by the artists, for exhibition and/or publication (print or online). Artwork may not be credited in publications due to space limitations.

2024 JUROR: STEVE HOSCH

Steve Hosch is an Ames-area printmaker/mixed media artist and long-time supporter of the arts. Other than the two years he spent as a frustrated graphic design major in college, he’s self trained, and a long-time pupil of the School of Mistake-Making. Despite that, Steve has managed to exhibit and sell his art around the Midwest.

From 1992 to his retirement in the spring of 2022, Steve worked as a high school special needs educator, a career choice that required the much needed catharsis provided by art, whether through exploring his own creativity in his happy place, The Art Lair, or visiting galleries, art festivals, and other artists’ studios. In 2005 Steve began creating vessels and masks made from hard shell gourds. Then, in the summer of 2010 his creative attention turned to assemblage and collage. However, in 2016, Steve discovered linocut print-making, a medium that continues to occupy his creative time.

This show is made possible thanks to our supporters!