Budding artists reception honors local youth artists

Feza Matiyabo was handed a pile of floppy disks by her teacher and told to make art out of it. The Mid-Prairie senior is too young to know how to use them, but she turned them into a work of art and earned herself a blue ribbon at the third annual Budding Artists show at Art Domestique.

The gallery was packed on Sunday, May 5, as local artists, their family, friends and teachers all crowded in to enjoy the show. Dr. Robin Plattenberger-Gilmore owns Art Domestique with her husband, Richard, and said this year there were 63 entries with seven high schools and three junior high schools across southeast Iowa represented.

Dr. Plattenberger-Gilmore said she feels it's important to give students a chance to express themselves creatively because students succeed in different mediums.

'There's kids who excel in so many ways and never get recognition and there's other kids who sit quietly and this is a way for them to express themselves and it's really brought some children out who haven't participated before,” she said.

By keeping the show local, Dr. Plattenberger-Gilmore said she hoped the students felt a sense of pride seeing their work on display locally. Sarah Peters, junior and senior high school art teacher at WACO, said her students do feel proud seeing their work on display in their area.

'I think it's always important to always have student artwork recognized. After all the hard work they put into things, it's so wonderful to see it all hung up together,” she said. 'Especially in a real gallery and not just in the library or something like that. It's very empowering and inspiring and I think it's important for them to see artwork from other schools as well.”

Joel Long, an eighth-grader at Washington Middle School, took home a blue ribbon in the junior high division. He said he was proud to have his artwork on display and to be able to show the community what he's able to accomplish.

'I like art because you can really express yourself and you can really do anything you put your mind to. Your imagination is your limit,” he said. 'A lot of people can come that know me and can see what I can do.”