CRESTVIEW — A Crestview High School art student has taken home the first prize in this year's Van Porter Art Show, an annual countywide competition.
Abigail "Abbie" Pouncey won the Van Porter Senior Artist of the Year Award in Okaloosa County, art teacher Laurel Breaux said.
"Her work competed against seniors from all the other high schools in the county," Breaux said.
The Arts and Design Society of Fort Walton Beach’s competition is for eighth and 12th-graders only. Teachers nominate students for consideration in the show. Accepted students submit a written essay and three of their artistic works for a jury’s evaluation.
Abbie's essay was "about what art meant to us and how it affected our lives and how important art is to us," Breaux said.
Among the three pieces Abbie submitted was the prize-winning "Sweetheart," an abstract sculpture of a person's head wearing headphones and a smiley-face bandanna.
"I was inspired by nature and different cultures around the world and how different things come together," Abbie said. "It was a colorful moment."
The sculpture also won a first-place ribbon at the Crestview High spring art show.
Abbie plans to major in graphic arts at Northwest Florida State College.
Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview High senior wins county art competition