Cape Girardeau, Missouri - Dexter High School junior and senior students, under the direction of Clint Twaddell, had eight art pieces selected for the show at Southeast Missouri State University’s 37th Annual High School Art Exhibition. This year’s theme was “Exhibiting Excellence,” and included art pieces from more than 20 southeast Missouri schools.

The show invites high school juniors and seniors to enter their finest pieces in several categories including: Sculpture, Ceramics, Printmaking, Mixed Media, Photography, Fibers, Drawing, or Painting. Each school was allowed 15 artwork entries per teacher, which were juried for the “Exhibition for Excellence.”

Dexter High School students had eight of their 15 entries selected.

“This is just excellent,” Twaddell said of his student’s work. “I’m very proud of all of them. This is a just a great showing. They all worked incredibly hard on these pieces, and it paid off.”

The exhibition at River Campus in Cape Girardeau is currently on display and will remain there through March 8. 

Two Dexter students had multiple works selected for the art show. MaKayla Waldner had three pieces accepted. She was awarded two Honorable Mentions in Mixed Media and Drawing and a scholarship for the Summer Art Academy as an outstanding junior in the show.

Josh Ladd, junior at DHS, had two pieces accepted in the show. 

Honey Patel, a senior, had one piece accepted and was awarded second place in Painting.

Senior Hayley Chapman had one piece accepted into the show, and senior,

Hayli Petty had one piece accepted into the show and was awarded second place in Drawing.

A total of 350 pieces were entered in the competition, and 100 were selected to be placed in the exhibit, with 15 of those pieces being from Dexter High School students.

Pictured from left are Hayley Chapman, Hayli Petty, Honey Patel, MaKayla Waldner, and Josh Ladd.