Regional High School Art Exhibition on display at EOU

Regional High School Art Exhibition on display at EOU

LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon Regional High School Art Exhibition featuring over 250 works by students from 15 regional high schools opened Friday, February 20. Awards were presented by Nightingale Gallery Director Cory Peeke. The EOU Art Department and Nightingale Gallery would like to congratulate the following award winners from this year’s exhibition and recognize the hardworking educators who make it all possible.  

Awards were presented for exemplary work by students in grades 9-12. All Best of Show winners received an award certificate, a $50 Dick Blick Art Supply gift card, and a sketchbook from the EOU Art Department, as well as an EOU tote bag and other EOU swag, compliments of the Offices of Admissions and University Advancement. Honorable Mention recipients received a certificate of award.

Best of Show 12^th Grade:

Ezra Storlie (Enterprise High) for their oil painting “Future, Present, Past” 

Best of Show 11^th Grade:    

Maximus Eckstein (Elgin High) for their ceramic sculpture“Shell of Great Detail”

Best of Show 10^th Grade:    

Brielle McCrae (Powder Valley High) for their inkjet print “Black and White Light”

Best of Show 9th Grade:

Allah Wallace (Joseph Charter School) for their graphite drawing “Student Portrait”

Honorable Mentions:

Burns

Lyra Lu, 11^th grade, for their watercolor “Zoey” 

Grant Union

Lilly Paddock, 11^th grade, for their drawing “Crab Apple Shade”

La Grande

Rydar McIlmoil, 11^th grade, for their ceramic pot “The Piece”

McLoughlin

Katelynn Martinez, 12^th grade, for their mixed media work “Piecing Together the Past”

Kyla Thorpe, 9^th grade, for their drawing “Redmont”

Pendleton

Ella La Mere, 12^th grade, for their mixed media sculpture “The Socking”

Isaia Norris, 11^th grade, for their Inkjet Print “Untitled”

Zarina Park, 12^th grade, for their painting “Who Ate My Leftovers”

Powder Valley

Aiden Flores, 11^th grade, for their inkjet print “Alexis”

Ella Herrera, 9^th grade, for their inkjet print “Grace”  

Union

Faith Albers, 10^th grade, for their painting “Nonchalant”

Liberty Albers, 12^th grade, for their painting “Joy”

Tyler Leathers, 10^th grade, for their painting “Ashla”

Four regional art centers presented special awards to young artists from their service areas. Art Center East presented an “Excellence in the Arts-Union County” award to Lauren Leathers 12th grader from Union High for their ceramic sculpture “Intrusive Thoughts,” an “Excellence in the Arts-Grant County” award to Calia Paddock 10th grader from Grant Union High for their drawing “Pomegranate,” and an “Excellence in the Arts-Harney County” award to Lyra Lu 11th grader from Burns High for their painting “Chubby Cat.” Each award comes with an ACE art kit. Baker County’s Crossroads Carnegie Art Center awarded a $50 award. Their “Outstanding Baker High School Student Award” went to 10th grader Daelylah Dalton for their ceramic sculpture “Grax.” Pendleton Center for the Arts presented a $100 “PCA Award of Distinction” to Pendleton High School 12th grader Zarina Park for their acrylic painting “Intersection of NW 6th and Garden.” The Josephy Center for Arts and Culture presented the “Wallowa County High School Best of Show Award” in the form of a $100 Dick Blick gift card to Abigail Dundas of Joseph for their Ink and watercolor drawing “No More.”

Art Center East’s award was selected by Jennifer Durr, ACE Gallery Director, and presented by Rikki Jo Hickey, ACE Youth Learning Coordinator. Crossroads Carnegie Art Center’s award winner was selected by Cory Peeke on behalf of Crossroads Executive Director Ginger Savage and presented by Crossroads Education Coordinator Melody Chaves. The Pendleton Center for the Arts award was selected by PCA Executive Director Roberta Lavadour. The Josephy Center award was selected by EOU Art faculty, and both the PCA and Josephy awards were presented by Cory Peeke.

You can view the winning artists’ works on the Nightingale’s Instagram account.

“On behalf of the EOU Art Department and the Nightingale Gallery, I would like to congratulate the winners and all the students with work on view,” said Cory Peeke, Nightingale Gallery Director, “and I would also like to congratulate the art teachers who go above and beyond to make this event the success it is each year.” The following is a list of those teachers:

Baker City High School-Koedi Birmingham

Burns High School-Emily Kokesh

Cove High School-Eric Gustavson

Crane Union High School-Connie Robbins

Echo High School-Rick Thew

Elgin High School-Amanda Welch

Enterprise High School-Dianne Pfel

Grant Union High School- JJ Collier
Joseph Charter School- Jennifer Hawkins
La Grande High School-Rich McIlmoil

McLoughlin High School (Milton-Freewater)-Marianne Smith

Monument High School- Erica Cade 

Pendleton High School- Abby Prevot

Powder Valley High School- Jessie Street
Union High School-Jaime Gustavson

The 2026 Eastern Oregon Regional High School Exhibition runs through March 13. The Nightingale Gallery is located in Loso Hall on the campus of Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, OR.  Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.