District Five Students Earn Top Prizes in “Art of Healing” Student Art Competition

IRMO, SC – May 4, 2014 – Several Lexington-Richland School District Five students will have their artwork displayed at the Columbia Museum of Art, after winning seven out of nine awards in this year’s “Art of Healing” student art contest.

The annual competition for high school students is sponsored through Lexington Medical Center in partnership with the Columbia Museum of Art. Students are asked to design artwork that best depicts the healing process. District Five winners include: Chapin High School’s Megan Rinehart (1st Place, “One Difficult Step Toward Healing”), Irmo High School’s Dilay Gezer (2nd Place, “Spring is Healing”), Dutch Fork High’s Alexis Lester (Honorable Mention, “3-6 Months”), Irmo High’s Holly McDermott (Honorable Mention, “Blossoming Serenity”), Spring Hill High’s Reagan Tedder (Honorable Mention, Amongst the Trees), Spring Hill High’s Blythe Lybrand (Jurors Choice, “Captured Heart”), and Dutch Fork High’s Megan Baker (Juror’s Choice, untitled piece).

“We want to congratulate all our winners and commend their families and teachers for supporting the students in this important contest,” said District Five Gifted and Talented Program Supervisor Tami Richardson. “Art has the power of healing and connecting people from all backgrounds. We are proud of our students and thank the museum and hospital for making this contest possible.”

The students’ artwork will be exhibited in the museum until mid-May, then displayed at Lexington Medical Center. For top prize winner, Megan Rinehart, the contest was a way to document her diabetic aunt’s healing after a long illness and amputation.

“I decided to take the picture of my aunt because she had just been battling it for so long, and it seemed like she was just never going to heal. She decided to amputate her leg, and I thought this photo was a great way to show healing,” Rinehart said. “I hope that people will look at the photo and remember that healing may take a while, but you can’t ever give up.”

Chapin art teacher Stephanie Shank added, “Lexington Medical Center and the Columbia Museum of Art have done a great deal for our students over the last couple of years with this competition. At the very least, they are able to have their art displayed at the museum for a month. That’s quite a resume.”

Other students like Dutch Fork High’s Alexis Lester said she’s proud to have her artwork displayed in the same museum with acclaimed artists.

“I’ve never won anything before, so winning this award is not only special for that reason, but also because my work is showcased in the same place that Annie Liebovitz, a photographer who I admire, was just exhibited.  Overall, it just feels really good because of how happy it made my dad (the subject of the artwork) feel.”

Spring Hill High’s art teachers Cristel Collins and Scott Hoffman shared, “This was a great opportunity to show how talented our students at Spring Hill High really are. The quality, sophistication, and creativity our visual art students demonstrated was right on par.”