13th Annual Robideau/Lamitie-King Exhibit Awards Ceremony

On Thursday night, the Closing Reception and Awards Ceremony for the 13th Annual Robideau/Lamitie-King Exhibit was held at For ARTSake in Malone. Turnout for the event was great, as many enjoyed refreshments and some great art. The exhibit featured about 80 middle and high school artists from 6 area schools.

Salmon River Central School had 15 entries in the exhibit. Salmon River High school art teacher Jennifer Backus has been doing the show for about 10 years and said, "We did really, really good this year." Middle school art teacher Tammy King added, "There is lots of nice art work."

The Foothills ARTSociety puts on the event. Beverley Quenville, Foothills ARTSociety member and coordinator of the exhibit, thanked the teachers and students who work so hard to put the show on. She said, "The teachers are great. They come and set the show up, if it wasn't for their work there wouldn't be an exhibit." Beverley told the crowd the juror, Charles Atwood King, had a very difficult time choosing winners.

There were four awards for different art mediums for the two categories of middle and high school. Because King had such a hard time choosing winners, there were also 11 Honorable Mentions for the show.

From Salmon River Middle School, 6th grader Rylie Gray's oil pastel "Flappy Bird" received Honorable Mention. From the High School, 12th grader Ariel Lazore won the award for Mixed Media for her collage "Rites of Passage" and Honorable Mentions included 12th grader Devin White for "K" in marker, 12th grader Taylor Francis for the sculpture "Stingray" and 10th grader Jenna French for "Natureʼs Masquerade" in bark.

Also taking part in the event from Salmon River was retired art teacher Arnie Sauther who helped out by donating an art piece for the raffle and is involved with the Foothills ARTSociety scholarship.

Foothills ARTSociety President Kristen Glazier thanked everyone involved for bringing arts awareness. She said, "It's amazing what the youth and teachers have done, you should be proud of yourselves." Vice President Melissa Benardot echoed her sentiments and added, "We saw a lot of pieces we don't normally see, the art is phenomenal."