Avery Shrader ‘19 has dabbled in art for a majority of her life, but it was not until two years ago that she began to invest significantly more time into it. To her surprise, this extra time paid off when she won runner-up for the Outstanding Award at the Hancher Guild Youth Art Show.

“I didn’t find out I was going to win an award until my art teacher told me, but I wasn’t expecting it,” Shrader said.

The art show, which has been an annual tradition until 2012, was held again on March 10th for the first time in six years. It is one of the only K-12 art shows in Iowa City and it’s organized by the Hancher Guild, a group of volunteers who help set up public projects such as this.

Shrader acknowledges that her success would not have been possible without her elementary school art teacher Dan Peterson, and her friend Olivia Lusala ‘19. “That’s not an exaggeration,” Shrader said. “We used to draw together all the time, and we still do.”

Though the runner-up was surprised that she even won anything at all, the first place winner, Shumu Zuo, didn’t even realise there was an award to be won.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know they were giving awards,” said Zuo. “I’ve always enjoyed doing artwork, but it’s more like my hobby than anything.”

When Zuo was asked to give advice to newer artists, he said, “Practice. Practice whenever you can, especially sketches, because they are like the base of all art.”

Madeline Jane-Tolkien, a fourth grader at Regina, has been doing art for almost all her life. “Since my mom is an art teacher, it’s always been around me,” Jane-Tolkien said. “We even have an art studio in our basement.”

While many people choose to draw things they see around them, Jane-Tolkien prefers to use her mind.

“I like to draw imaginary things,” Jane-Tolkien said. “I once made a really good picture of a dragon.”

The Executive Director of Hancher, Chuck Swanson, was personally amazed by the art on display at the show.

“Up here we want nothing but the best, and the best is what we have here today,” he said in his speech. “I want you all to know that you are certainly inspiring people who come here.”

Swanson continued his speech by reminiscing on his brief period as an artist. “I remember, for art class in third grade, I made a fish, and I haven’t thought about that fish in many, many years. I never felt very proud of that fish,” he said. “My teacher put it up in our classroom, because that was all we had. When I look at this artwork—I’m telling you—it was not very good at all compared to what I’m seeing here today.”