Prairie Village Annual Art Competition Winners Announced

The Prairie Village Arts Council has announced the 2020 State of the Arts winners. For the last 13 years, State of the Arts has served as the council’s premiere art show of the year. But this year, the coronavirus pandemic brought on some challenges to navigate. Grace Roberts won best in show for her coloured pencil piece entitled ‘The Secret Garden’, while the People’s choice award went to Roland Escalona’s coloured pencil, pen and link drawing entitles, ‘Close Quarters’.

Overall, there were 450 submissions from local, national and international artists. The show’s juror Lori Phillips, a painter and mixed media artist based in Hawaii, had to narrow the entries down to 75.

Phillips told the city’s newsletter, The Village Voice, that she looks for artistic merit that includes ambition, an avoidance of clichés, as well as developing artistic and creative maturity, among other qualities.