Coventry Resident Wins 'Best of Show' in 4-H Drawing Competition

Rhode Island 4-H celebrated its 29th Annual Photo Fine Arts Show April 27-29 at the Warwick Mall. 4-Hers from across the state brought items to be judged and displayed for the weekend. In total, there were 119 items on exhibit ranging from paintings, drawings, photography as well as mixed media. All items were made by young 4-H members from 8 to 18 years old.

Best of Show honors in the drawing category went to Kelly Bryant (Coventry) in the Intermediate division for a colored pencil drawing of a bird titled “Fly Away” and her “Calm before the Storm” charcoal drawing of a lighthouse. In the senior division, Molly McKenna (Exteter) won with her drawing titled “Sunflower” along with Lillie Haldeman’s (West Kingston) drawing “It’s all a Joke” joker and Meghan Morrissey’s (Foster) drawing of a Manatee titled, “M is for Manatee.”

Best of Show honors in the mixed media category went to Hannah Bates (East Greenwich) with her Wire Man sculpture in the Intermediate category. In the junior division, Best of Shows went to Melanie Nelson (West Warwick) with her “Woodland Scene” diorama and Izabella Martinez with “Sailing the Ocean.” Lastly, in the senior division Best of Show honors went to Meghan Morrissey (Foster) with her “Who’s Watching” art piece featuring a handmade stamp used in the artwork.

Best of Show honors in the Painting category went to Aidan Horan (North Kingstown) in the Junior category with a watercolor painting called “Whispering Birch”.  Also taking Best of Show honors in the Junior category was Olivia Olmstead (Hope Valley) with her watercolor painting “Tree frog.” Taking Senior Best of Show was Emily Walter (Wakefield) with “Bring to Life”, a watercolor and glue painting of Poppies.

Best of Show honors in our most popular category of Photography for Juniors was Melanie Nelson (West Warwick) with her Black and White photo, “ A Bridge to Someplace”, along with Megan Hartley (West Greenwich) with her color photo “Spring Tulip”.  In the Intermediate division Rachel Erkan (West Kingston) earned honors with her color photo “Umbrella Factory” and Alyssa Grayson (West Warwick) with her color photo “Coming Out of Your Shell” of a snail on a rock.  In the Senior division, Newell Roberts (Providence) received a Best of Show for his color photo “Locally Grown Carrots”.  Also receiving a Senior Best of Show was Jessilyn Ring (Coventry) with her Photoshop photo “Spring Iris in Bloom." 

Viewers were allowed to vote on their favorite piece from all of the Best of Show winners. This item received a special ribbon, certificate and was presented with the 2012 Viewer’s Choice Award. After totaling the 319 votes cast, this year’s winner was Meghan Morrissey (Foster) with “M is for Manatee”, her colored pencil drawing. 

Congratulations to all of the 4-Hers!

Rhode Island 4-H is the Youth Development Program of the University of Rhode Island, Cooperative Extension, College of the Environment and Life Sciences.  4-H programs focus on learning opportunities for youth aged 5 to 18 years old, in school and in after-school settings, community clubs and Operation Military Kids initiatives. 4-H members reside in towns, suburbs and cities and complete educational projects, ranging from science and technology to healthy lifestyles; animal science to citizenship. 

Members focus on learning by doing, applying leadership skills, making a difference in RI communities, and learning to respect others.  They learn life skills such as responsibility, decision-making, communication skills, problem solving, commitment, leadership, and teamwork.

To become a 4-H Volunteer or for information on the 4-H program, call the URI 4-H Office at 401-874-2959 or email kstone@uri.edu.