LBW Community College will recognize excellence in the visual arts as it presents the 31st annual student art show, April 21-May 5, in the Andalusia campus art gallery.

“Our students submitted individual pieces in different categories, such as drawings in black and white, drawings in color, two-dimensional design, and graphic design,” said Misti Purvis, art instructor.

This year’s “Best of Show” is an acrylic painting titled “Essence of Spring” by Taylor Joyner of Greenville, a sophomore art major who brought drawing on walls as a child to earning the highest distinction in the LBWCC student art show.

“I’m extremely ecstatic about this award. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right,” she said.

Although the subject matter of the award is a flower in springtime, Joyner’s passion is creating characters and hopes one day to work for Pixar Studios and bring her characters to life.

Upon completing her degree at LBW, she dreams of continuing her education at an art institute.

“I want to go somewhere that could help me with art animation,” she said. “I want little children to see my characters and say ‘That’s what I want to be for Halloween,’ or ‘That’s my favorite.’ I want to make people happy through my art.”

Earning first place with “Blue Jay on Wooden Post” is Chloe Teel of Kinston, freshman art major, using a scratching technique on clay board.

“My grandmother loved birds and always told me to do art using birds, so I chose this subject because of her,” Teel said.

The image is produced by drawing in reverse, said Purvis.

“The technique used is to scratch away to get shadows and highlights,” she said. “The values are created through lines. The closer the lines are together, the lighter it will be. The further apart, the darker the value.”

Catherine Wofford of Andalusia earned second-place with a graphite pencil drawing titled “Pop Top.”

“I really liked the subject matter,” she said. “I thought it would be neat to draw it. I enjoy lighting and shadows and there were a lot of values to draw.”

Since she enjoys photography, she notices lights and darks most, she said.

Wofford is a sophomore completing an Associate in Arts Degree.

“My First Still Life” earned Kassie Hurst of Red Level a third-place award for her first drawing of its type. Still-life drawings require the artist to view the objects from the same angle for each work session.

“I learned the different values and learned to measure with a pencil scale and portion relative size,” she said. “The cloth was the most difficult to draw because of the different folds in it. I had to highlight to get the folds.”

The public is invited to attend a reception in the gallery to honor the art students on April 21, 2015, 4-6 p.m.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. The gallery is located in the William H. McWhorter Learning Resource Center on the LBWCC Andalusia campus, and open for viewing Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.