I'm back to one of my favorite places here over in Elkhart, the Midwest Museum of American Art.

And I mean, it's all about the youth and bringing them into the art space.

And this is really the month for it, isn't it, Jennifer?

Absolutely.

So this is the 46 Elkhart County, youth art exhibit.

So 46 years we've been doing it.

Pretty exciting.

We had six high schools who are participating this year.

And, we have 202 works of art from 146 students.

Oh, wow.

That's amazing.

It is.

And we were able to hang it all.

And it's all Elkhart County.

All Elkhart County.

Yeah.

So, we have Elkhart High School.

I have to catch myself.

Yeah, that's that's a new thing.

And Elkhart County Career center.

Okay, we have North Ridge, Concord, Goshen and Fairfield.

So Goshen and Fairfield are new this year.

But they really brought their A-game.

It looks really great.

I know as soon as I walked in, I was like, this is not just student work here.

This is incredible.

And this one particularly caught my eye.

I love this mixed media piece.

It's gorgeous.

And we are in the Northridge High School gallery, so we have done this by school.

So right now it's just kind of an isolated section for the school.

For the school.

Yeah.

And that was nice for the teachers, for the students, for the parents.

And then they can look at all the kids that got in from their school and then make their way to the other galleries and see the other artwork from the other schools.

Oh my gosh.

Okay.

So do you want to talk about this?

Sure.

So, this is from Melissa Eads and she's from Northridge.

It got an honorable mention for mixed media.

And again, I think, the individual who chose the mixed media best of an honorable mentions had a really difficult time because there were so many excellent works that got in.

I'm really pleased this one got an award.

It's beautiful.

I wonder if, she crocheted that herself, too.

Yes.

And that was one of the things the, the artist who also does mixed media, who chose this award, said that's what was really hard for her.

She knew how much time and effort added to this piece with all the crochet work and talk to us about that, because a lot of these students probably have been working on project for a while.

How does that work into their curriculum?

So we contacted art teachers, in the fourth quarter.

Okay.

So they know this is coming up for first quarter, okay, for their semester.

And so then the teacher select ten students from their class.

Oh, and so part of this show is a little bit of self-selection already.

So I kind of believe that we probably have some of the best in Elkhart County here, because the teachers are limited to ten students and ten works.

Okay.

Well, sometimes there's more than around that, right?

Yeah.

But right around that range, because there is 142 students that somehow we do have 200.

I know that math does not work.

That's just the math.

But anyway, but that's kind of the gist of it.

So the teachers are picking their top students.

If they come with more than ten students, we don't say no.

Right.

Sure.

But they're they're bringing the cream of the crop.

And so there's already kind of a cut.

And so then when the people who are selecting the war awards are judging this, then it becomes difficult because there's so many good pieces.

And I don't know if we can go across here, but yeah, this is the best mixed media.

Oh, and again, people might recognize this a little bit like a Stranger Things as well.

Yes, exactly.

A little bit of Stranger Things going on here, but very sharpened there.

Again, very talented.

And a lot of time.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm sure.

And that's really cool too.

Oh my gosh.

And so our friends across the street Premiere Arts are getting ready to open physical and musical.

Yes.

Am I talking to them?

Yes.

Yes, we love them.

And they picked this and it's Doctor Seuss's part pot.

I love it.

You couldn't be more apropos, right?

Yes.

That's perfect.

So yeah, bright and colorful is it.

Now let's head into one of the other rooms for sure.

What comes next?

This is Concord.

Concord.

Okay.

And so.

And what is the range of submissions?

I know we've already seen some mixed media.

What else are we looking okay.

We have drawings.

We have charcoal, we have, pastels and obviously ceramic.

So you'll see.

This is the best drawing right here.

Oh, wow.

And this was picked by the Enfield family in memory of Susan Enfield, who was a teacher here in Elkhart, okay.

And a artist herself.

So again, there's all these connections that weave in.

Yeah, absolutely.

And then there's Westfield Garden picked a very apropos, work that they gave an award to for their youth Art award.

And that was another nice thing.

We had a lot of our art partners who joined in celebrating the youth and presented awards film.

And I know you guys probably gave away a lot of prizes with this.

Oh, we absolutely do.

So there are cash prizes associated with all the awards that you see.

So anyone who has a gold tag, they got an award.

They not only were recognized with an award, they received some cash.

And that's great.

I'm so yeah, that's the one we gave away about $3,600 this year.

Really?

Yes.

Two students.

That's incredible.

We're very happy about it.

And these are digital.

Yes.

Yes.

We have.

And that's a new category this year's digital design.

And I didn't mention photography.

But yes, also photography is its own category.

That's awesome.

Let's go ahead and sure sure.

I know we could be here all day, but we want you guys to come and check out your space so we're not.

Yes, yes okay, so this is Fairfield and Goshen.

Oh.

So if we look here in this corner, this is all Fairfield, super talented group of kids.

Oh, I love that one.

Tell.

And so, yeah, we couldn't give awards to all of them, but wow.

That's.

Well, they also have awards in my heart.

Yes.

Yeah.

So you know here we have all sorts of things.

We have the digital design, we have some mixed media and yeah, lots of mixed media.

And then there's another charcoal.

But yes, the kids are really great with the mixed media.

A lot of people went crazy over this piece.

I think it's just fiery.

Yes.

Very fiery.

And, this media piece too.

Then we have some ceramics.

Yes.

And this little teapot we had our mayors from Goshen and Elkhart picked, Mayor's Choice Awards.

And this little strawberry teapot was the Mayor's Choice award for the City of God.

What a great way to get each of the cities involved with this program today.

Oh, yes.

And we're very fortunate that we have mayors in both cities that are very supportive of the arts.

Let's go ahead upstairs.

Okay.

Oh, I need to talk about Goshen.

Oh my gosh.

On this side this is Goshen.

It just goes right behind you.

So I just want to make sure you have a chance to look at these.

So there's some there's some charcoal some pastel mixed media.

You've come down here.

There's more lots of self-portraits.

The kids, we're doing a lot of that.

But yeah, Goshen did a great job.

And I have to give kudos to the teachers who are working with these students.

Listen, without the teachers, this wouldn't happen.

Yeah.

The teachers are the backbone.

And we're really lucky that we have teachers that have been this program for a long time and love the museum, love the arts, and like getting their students work shown.

And for a lot of these students, this is their first time to be in a museum setting.

Oh, okay.

So it was very fun.

It was great fun.

Yeah, right.

Let's head upstairs now.

Okay.

Oh, here's our our Minecraft ceramic from somebody from.

Let's see I think this is the career.

Oh no.

This is Elkhart High School okay.

So yeah.

So up here upstairs here.

So this is Elkhart High School is upstairs Elkhart High School and the career center and the career center okay.

Yes.

That one's we have a lot of digital art from the career center.

And this is pretty cool.

This is best photography from the Career Center.

That's photography.

Yes.

That is photography.

Pretty cool.

I can understand why I got the why.

That's incredible.

And again, this one, an honorable mention of photography.

And this one received the For the Love of Art Fair Youth Art award, which was also a pretty fantastic piece.

Yes.

So talk to us about I know we're going to work around the corner for sure.

It's about why it's important to have.

You guys have been doing this for 46 years focusing on the youth.

Why?

Why do we want to do that?

Well, for one youth, their minds are so creative.

They're very uninhibited.

And it's a great time to reach them and reach their creativity.

And why not?

Youth?

You know, the arts are very, very important for them.

And it taps a part of them that they don't get in their normal curriculum.

It's not math, it's not reading.

It brings out the creative side.

And some kids, this is their real gift.

I love that.

All right.

What do you want to show us in here?

Which, Wow.

Gosh, there's so many.

Closing.

This is the Mayor's choice award for the city of Elkhart.

Okay?

And you might recognize this if you're from Elkhart.

This is the Chase building.

Okay?

That has a history of its own here in Elkhart.

A famous architect built it.

But more importantly, this is where the city is planning on putting their, I guess, 911 headquarters.

Oh, and so the mayor just love this.

I was immediately drawn.

He knew exactly what it was.

And again, we have some other really fantastic artwork, some paintings, some drawings.

Now, when can people come and see this exhibit?

Oh, you guys are officially open now.

Oh, yeah, we are open to the public Wednesday through Friday, 11 to 5.

And on Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 5.

Okay.

And when does the exhibit go through?

The exhibit goes from March 8th to April 19th, April 19th.

So you guys have about another month to come on out and explore.

I know we have plenty of other art, but we want you guys to come and see all that there is here.

Absolutely.

Yes we do.

And I do want to say this year we gave away a $500 scholarship to a graduating senior who is pursuing some type of artistic endeavor.

How wonderful.

And yeah, in their college career.

And so camera crew from Fairfield was the one who was selected for this scholarship.

And he's going to be all state and will be in graphic design per se.

Well congratulations, Cameron.

So much for showing us Jennifer.

Make sure you come on out here in the next month and we'll see you then.

Thank you.