Artist wins merit award from juror;
FCHS student art chosen for exhibition

Tim von Behren's construction and colored paper Queen of Babel has been chosen as a 2009 Laurine Kimmel High School Art Exhibition merit award winner. It was one of eight winners chosen from the exhibition artwork.

Professor Henry Serenco, professor in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, was the juror for the exhibit. He said, "It is always difficult to jury a high school art show because I think too much value is given to the juror's picks. I picked the work that I responded to the most and what I thought was the best work, but another artist might pick pieces that I left out." He added, "The eight pieces that I thought were the best in the show represented five different media. Seven were two dimensional and one was three-dimensional so I felt that all different kinds of work were represented."

Four Falls City High School students had artwork in the art exhibition. Seniors Derrick Nutman, Derek Maze, and Tim von Behren and junior Josie Cummings had art selected for the show. The four FCHS artists are students of Patricia Steinman.

The exhibition showcased artwork by juniors and seniors from ten southeast Nebraska schools. The works on exhibit included drawings, paintings, and sculpture by more than forty student artists. They were selected by art educators in the participating high schools: Auburn High School, Falls City High School, Falls City Sacred Heart, Johnson-Brock High School, Johnson County Central High School, Lourdes Central Catholic, Nebraska City High School, Pawnee City High School, Sterling High School, and Syracuse High School.

The Richard P. Kimmel and Laurine Kimmel Charitable Foundation sponsored this exhibition in memory of Laurine Kimmel, an artist and graduate of Nebraska City High School. The exhibition was made posible through the cooperation of Nebraska Educational Service Unit 4, art teachers in participating schools, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. In addition to displaying the talent and hard work of area students, the Laurine Kimmel High School Art Exhibition offered participating schools the opportunity to apply for monetary allowances to support art education in their classrooms.