GumTree Museum of Art
211 West Main Street
P.O. Box 786
Tupelo, MS 38802
662.844.ARTS tina@gumtreemuseum.com
2009
CellularSouth GumTree Festival
Youth Art &
Scholarship
Competition
Each year high
school students and middle school students from
Tupelo and Lee County compete for awards based
on artwork submitted by the students. Judges’
Choice Awards and Certificates of Merit are
selected by a panel of judges. Three Judges’
Choice Awards are selected for each grade and up
to fifteen certificate of merit awards are
selected as well. Graduating High School seniors
compete for $1500 in scholarships from the
Cellular South GumTree Festival. The scholarship
competition is based upon a portfolio
presentation and a two page written essay.
Each year we tirelessly encourage young talented
artists to participate in our youth
competitions. Through this effort, we have given
many of these children and young adults an
opportunity to excel in their gift through means
not accessible to them otherwise. We have seen
the direct results of the festival artist’s
influence of our community youth. With the
support of our title sponsor, Cellular South,
our scholarship program has grown significantly,
increasing the dollar amount of the first-place
scholarship award and adding additional cash
awards. We are proud to be associated with a
group that has offered them the tools in which
to do this. These are the things that are most
inspirational to us. Congratulations to Senior
Scholarship winners Abby Nichols,
Saltillo High School, and Kirstie Manning,
Shannon High School. Congratulations to the
following senior students for Scholarship Awards
of Merit: Megan Lynn Nash and Tabatha
Biggerstaff, Tupelo High School, and
Jennifer Lollar, Saltillo High School.
“Pop Art
Self-Portrait Series”
$750 - Abby
Nichols
Saltillo High
School
"Girl With
Fro"
$500 - Kirstie
Manning:
Shannon High
School
Sometimes people ask me
why I love art. Well, I say, art is
everything and anything I need it to
be. It can be an escape from reality.
It can make sense of reality. Art can
be calming when I’m upset, and a way to
release my frustration. It can help me
think clearly or keep me from thinking
at all. Sometimes I paint for a purpose,
and other times I paint just to paint.
If someone asked me the
definition of Art I wouldn’t really know
what to say, but I would tell them what
I think art means. To me, art is a way
of getting away from the world. Art is
like a world that I would be aware of
where I am, but I always seem to get
lost in it. Whenever I feel the urge to
draw , I never know what I’m going to
end up with. Art is unpredictable, like
the world.
