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First Lady Announces Residence Exhibit’S Student Art Scholars

Bearden High School Student Bailey Priest Wins Statewide Contest, $1,000 Scholarship

6/2/2006

First Lady Andrea Conte and The Tennessee Arts Commission today announced the statewide student winner in a traveling art exhibit to benefit the Restoration and Preservation of The Tennessee Residence “Far Hills – Images of the Tennessee Residence.”

Conte launched the traveling art exhibit featuring the drawings and paintings of renowned landscape artist Charles Brindley in November 2005 to raise awareness about and raise funds for the project to restore and preserve The Tennessee Residence. She kicked off the traveling exhibit in Knoxville and then hosted exhibits in Chattanooga, Johnson City, Memphis, Humboldt, Smithville and Nashville.

As part of the exhibit, Conte and The Tennessee Arts Commission offered high school students the opportunity to show their artwork through The Tennessee Residence Brindley Scholar Art Contest. High Schools across the state were given the option of submitting one student’s artwork for local exhibition during the tour and the chance to win scholarships provided by The Tennessee Arts Commission. The student artwork focused on subjects significant to Tennessee’s history.

Throughout the tour, visitors at each tour stop voted on their favorite student piece. The winning student artist at each exhibit was awarded $300 and their artwork was added to the traveling exhibit. Two runners-up were also selected at each exhibit and were awarded $100.

At the end of the final exhibit in Nashville, a statewide contest winner was selected from among the local exhibit winners for a $1,000 Tennessee Arts Commission scholarship. Bailey Priest, a sophomore student at Bearden High School, won the statewide contest for her watercolor rendering titled “Trail of Tears.”

“When I heard my piece was going to be entered in a statewide exhibit sponsored by the First Lady - I got nervous and excited,” said Priest. “I worked really hard on this piece and am thankful to have had this opportunity.”

The winners from each local exhibit include:

Knoxville exhibit
Winner - Bailey Priest, Bearden High School, Knoxville
Runner up - Alex Blackwelder, Powell High School, Powell
Runner up - Shaun Ridge, South Doyle High School, Knoxville

Chattanooga exhibit
Winner – Jamie Trollinger, Boyd Buchanan High School, Chattanooga
Runner up – Ashley Schenk, Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences, Chattanooga
Runner up – Jackie Dean, Chattanooga Christian, Chattanooga

Johnson City exhibit
Winner - Ethan Scheu, University School, Johnson City
Runner up – Kaley Donahue, South Greene High School, Greeneville
Runner up – Nathan Wampler, Daniel Boone High School, Gray

Humboldt exhibit
Winner – Zac Benson, Madison Academic High School, Jackson
Runner up – Jon Corey Ford, Humboldt High School, Humboldt
Runner up – Allison East, University School of Jackson, Jackson

Memphis exhibit
Winner – Dan Berry, Collierville High School, Collierville

Smithville exhibit
Winner – Kimberly Duke, Gordonsville High School, Gordonsville
Runner up – Josh Argo, Jackson County High School, Gainesboro
Runner up – Jessica Elrod, Cannon County High School, Woodbury

Nashville exhibit
Winner - Aaron Johnson, McGavock High School, Nashville
Runner up – Lindsay Pratt, Harpeth Hall, Nashville
Runner up – Aubrey Swander, Brentwood High School, Brentwood

“I have been impressed by the creativity each student who entered the Brindley Scholar Art Contest displayed in preparing their pieces for the ‘Far Hills’ exhibit,” said Conte. “I congratulate each of our local exhibit winners and our statewide winner Bailey Priest, for their achievements in the Brindley Scholar Art Contest. They have all shown such talent and creative ability, and I thank each of them for being a part of this exhibit to benefit the restoration of The Tennessee Residence.”

To learn more about the restoration project or to make a donation, please call the Office of the First Lady at (615) 741.7846 or visit http://www.tnanytime.org/exres/.