Two Oshkosh Students Receive Awards

The top winners of the Helen Farnsworth Mears Art Contest, sponsored by the General Federation of Women's Clubs-Wisconsin, will be on exhibit at the museum from June 9, 2007 through July 22, 2007.

Helen Farnsworth Mears, born in Oshkosh in 1871, showed artistic ability at an early age. Her sculptures gained national recognition and today she is still considered one of Wisconsin's premier sculptors. Helen studied under Lorado Taft at the Chicago Art Institute, and would later become the first female assistant to one of the most famous and respected sculptor's of the time, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

In 1893, Helen was commissioned to do a figure that would represent Wisconsin at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Her "Genius of Wisconsin," which now stands in the state capitol, won a five-hundred-dollar prize for Helen from the General Federation of Women's Clubs-Wisconsin.

In 1926, ten years after Helen's tragic death at a young age, the General Federation of Women's Clubs-Wisconsin inaugurated an annual art competition in her honor. Focusing on 7th and 8th grade students, the purpose of the contest is to promote art within the local community and to offer incentives to developing artists.

Every year each General Federation Women's Club in Wisconsin opens the contest to all 7th and 8th graders, whether taught in public, parochial, or home schools. Class A represents those students who have entered under the direction of an art instructor. Class B are students who have entered without the benefit of art instruction.

Winners from each club are sent to the GFWC-District Meeting where they are again judged. The frontrunners from the district are then sent to the GFWC-State Convention, where the final winners are chosen. The winners will be on exhibit at the Oshkosh Public Museum this year from June 9, 2007 through July 22, 2007.

If you would like to know more about the contest, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, or Helen Farnsworth Mears, please contact curator Debra Daubert.

Of special note: Many years ago winners of this award were presented with a medallion cast from a piece of Helen Farnsworth Mears' work. There is a reward of $100 for anyone who can locate one of these medallions. The contact person is Shirley Mattox at (920) 233-2833.

The winners are:

First Place

Class A Painting/Drawing
Artist: Alannah Reckers
Contour Line Drawing
Brown Deer Middle School, Grade 7
Sponsor: Brown Deer Junior Woman's Club




Second Place
Class A Painting/Drawing
Artist: Lauren Seward
Marker Pointillism
Carl Traeger Middle School, Grade 8
Sponsor: Oshkosh Women's Arts Club






Third Place
Class A Painting/Drawing
Artist: Alex Koch
3-D Acrylic
Merrill Middle School/ALPS, Grade 8
Sponsor: Oshkosh Women's Arts Club






First Place
Class B Painting/Drawing
Artist: Rachel Hulterer
Title: Lighthouse Dream
Oil Pastel
St Paul Lutheran School, Grade 8
Sponsor: Oconomowoc Junior Woman's Club

Second Place
Class B Painting/Drawing
Artist: Ryanne Olsen
Title: School Days
Mixed Media
Prairie Hill Waldorf School, Grade 8
Sponsor: Woman's Club of Pewaukee

Third Place
Class B Painting/Drawing
Artist: Kyle Re
Title: An Idea
Pencil
Homeschool
Sponsor: Woman's Club of Hartland

First Place
Class A Sculpture
Artist: Trevor Johnson
Title: Knight
Paper Mache
Menominee Middle School, Grade 8
Sponsor: Menominee Woman's Club

Second Place
Class A Sculpture
Artist: Cassie Kerrian
Title: Rosey Gargoyle
Clay
Dodgeville Middle School, Grade 7
Sponsor: Dodgeville Area Woman's Club

Third Place
Class A Sculpture
Artist: Ben Mauer
Title: Plaid
Clay
St. Francis Borgia Catholic School, Grade 8
Sponsor: Cedarburg Woman's Club

First Place
Class B Sculpture
Artist: Logan Wehmeyer
Title: Sequel Monster, Inc.
Paper Mache and Acrylic
St. Paul Lutheran School, Grade 7
Sponsor: Oconomowoc Junior Woman's Club

Second Place
Class B Sculpture
Artist: Scarlett Hafner
Tye-Dye Shirt
Prairie Hill Waldorf School, Grade 7
Sponsor: Pewaukee Woman's Club

Third Place
Class B Sculpture
Artist: Lillian George
Title: Monster, Inc.
Paper Mache and Acrylic
St. Paul Lutheran School, Grade 7
Sponsor: Oconomowoc Junior Woman's Club