Wayland Union High School senior Ashton Ingles earned top honors at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 35th annual High School Area Art Show for his artwork titled “Work in Progress: A self-portrait.” 

The show featured 109 works selected by this year’s juror, Julie W. Tourtillotte, professor of art at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind. They were selected out of a field of hundreds of entries submitted by artists from 25 schools from Allegan, Berrien, Branch, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties.

Besides this the top prize, called the “Juror’s Award,” Ingles also was awarded special recognition for his art by Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, as well as a full scholarship to the summer art program at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.

Tourtillotte said, “The high quality of the submissions required me to make difficult decisions, so I congratulate each of the student artists who are included. The works were selected for their originality, conceptual strength and technical quality. I was impressed not only by the caliber of the artwork but by the range of media, subjects and ideas explored. Time and again I found myself entranced by the students’ sophistication in the manipulation and understanding of their medium. Some of the strongest works clearly show the artists expressing their own personal vision and engaging ideas of social, cultural and political importance.”

PHOTO: Award-winning Wayland High School student Ashton Ingles and art teacher Scott Gunderson, himself no stranger to awards. (Photo courtesy of Laurie Zywiczynski)