At the Northern Illinois Regional Art Exhibition in Bridgeport on April 19, Liz Longnecker was awarded Best in Show for ceramics, and several students received scholarships.

ArtConnectED is an organization in Illinois that supports art education through exhibitions and programs. They host the annual Northern Illinois Regional Art Exhibition, where teachers submit their students’ art for display in a professional art gallery. 

Other students submitted their work through the Early College Program and the Senior Scholarship Exhibition. Sophomore Alex Hunter received a scholarship offer for precollege programs, and seniors Amira Moultrie, John Whit Waterstraat and Rachel Xiang received scholarship offers for college.

Art teacher Brian Wildeman submitted Liz’s sculpture piece in the ceramics category of the exhibition, impressed with the look and significance.

Mr. Wildeman said, “I had a really good feeling. I really like the story behind it. There’s a theme behind her piece.”

Liz based her sculpture on a dream she had five years ago. She has drawn and painted her dreams for years. This time, she decided to depict the dream in three dimensions.

She said, “I do paint my dreams but I have never sculpted them before. It’s this thing I might want to start doing again because it was really cool.

When Liz saw pictures of the other ceramic pieces at the exhibition, she felt happy to be recognized with the other work displayed.

“They were really incredible, so it was an honor to win among the most incredible sculptures I have ever seen,” Liz said. “It was just exciting.”