The Illinois High School Art Exhibition has been around for 11 years, but Evanston Township High School art teacher Bill Simos said that he was surprised someone didn’t think of it sooner.
“It’s basically like going downstate in a sport,” he said. “It’s basically like finals for art.”
Originally launched in 2013 to help high-schoolers interested in going to college for art get scholarships, the competition has grown into a multi-part annual event that draws students from all over Illinois and offers cash prizes in multiple categories, in addition to the scholarship offers.
Simos said that ETHS has participated in the program for at least 10 years. Last year, students received approximately $274,000 in scholarship offers, and this year, the sum is several times that: $780,000 in scholarship offers.
For the past few years, the exhibition was held at Chicago South Side’s Bridgeport Art Center from mid-March to mid-April. It is divided into three components. The third-floor Senior Scholarship Exhibition features artwork of seniors who apply on their own specifically for the opportunities to get scholarships. The Northern Illinois Regional Art Exhibition, which takes up the main fourth-floor gallery space and spills into adjacent hallways, features works that art teachers submit on their students’ behalf. The fourth floor also hosts the Early College Program exhibition, which features artwork from students who are trying to get into summer programs at art schools such as the School of Art Institute of Chicago.
Everything displayed in the exhibition is automatically entered into a contest, in which students get the chance to win additional awards and prizes. The winners will be announced at a special ceremony held the closing day of the exhibition, April 21, at the art center’s fifth-floor Skyline space.
Sixteen ETHS students made it into IHSAE in 2024. Simos said that simply being part of the exhibition can give students a confidence boost and help persuade their parents that an art degree can lead to a career.
The exhibitions
IHSAE is operated by a nonprofit called Art ConnectED. It grew beyond the exhibition, organizing programs for students and teachers, but helping students get scholarships is essential to its core mission.
For Senior Scholarship Exhibition, seniors submit five- to 20-piece portfolios, and a jury panel chooses who gets in. Colleges and universities that work with Art ConnectED review the portfolios, but exhibition rules specifically state that being included doesn’t guarantee scholarship offers.
Seven ETHS seniors got in this year: Sophie Bilski, Isaac Suarez Flint, Winston Flowers, Sydney Hletko, Tomas Mentzinger, Charlene Solis and Minerva Daniels Terrell. Their submissions represent a wide range of media. Hletko submitted a photo collage called “Leaning in,” while Mentzinger submitted photos from his “Finding my Place” project. The photo on display at the exhibition depicts children sitting in the back of a pickup truck parked in front of two houses. Daniels Terrell submitted “Light Mood,” a black-and-white painting of a woman’s headshot, curls spreading in all directions.
For the Early College program, only one ETHS student got in. Theo Raden, who submitted a 20-square photographic grid, received a scholarship to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s early college summer program.
Teachers have nothing to do with who is selected for the Senior Scholarship and Early College exhibitions. Simos said all they can do is let students know the opportunity is there.
For the Northern Illinois exhibition, each ETHS teacher nominates a piece. The teachers then get together to whittle the pool down to one piece in each of the eight eligible categories: drawing, painting, photography, design, mixed media, pottery, sculpture and time arts.
“Sometimes, as teachers, we have a heated debate about which pieces should be included,” Simos said. “And it’s a very robust critique. It’s very interesting, actually.”
This year, the teachers picked seven students: sophomores Claudia Nord and Julian Walker; junior Lily Hammock; and seniors Madeline Andreotti, Sophia Lindsey, Charlotte Murray and Ava Russell. Hammock painted a surreal image of a yellow bipod structure with an eyeball on the top standing in the middle of the ocean. Nord created a pencil drawing of a woman. Russell drew back-and-white flowers. Walker’s piece is a photograph of a man lit in red against the landscape with a dark blue sky and a house in the background.
Murray’s piece was unlike anything in the gallery – two copies of a black and pink The Ultimate & Complete Thrift Guide zine, one folded, the way it would normally be read, and one unfolded.
This year, the exhibitions opened on March 15, during Bridgeport Art Center’s monthly Open Studios. They will stay up until after the April 21 awards ceremony and portfolio review. That, Simos said, is when most students, parents and teachers come down to see the art on display.
“It’s really exciting and it’s a proud moment for art teachers, to see students get monetary offers from some of the strongest art schools in the nation,” he said. “It’s very exciting. It’s a very proud moment for us teachers, and it’s just a great moment in the student development.”
Simply being part of the of show, Simos said, can be “a catalyst” for students, especially underclassmen.
“They become interested in the world of arts, and it starts influencing the ideas of what they want to do [with their] post-secondary education,” he said. “It helps them gain the tools and gain the confidence to study arts.”
It can also be reassuring to parents and guardians who might be worried that an arts degree may not lead to many career prospects.
“I teach graphic design, and I had students who’ve been through this show, and now they’re working as professional designers,” Simos said. “[Having their work displayed in a professional gallery] makes it a lot easier for a lot of students to convince their parents.”
Bridgeport Art Center is located at 1200 W. 35th St. The galleries are open to the public from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday. Visitors can also see the exhibitions during the art center’s monthly Open Studios from 7-10 p.m. on April 19.