photo by: Contributed

“Wait” by Wren Jay, won 1st Place in the 2D category at The Annual High School Visual Arts Competition hosted by the City of Merriam.

Four Lawrence High School students placed at an annual high school visual arts competition on Thursday.

The Annual High School Visual Arts Competition is hosted by the City of Merriam, and it is one of the largest high school art competitions in the Kansas City metro region allowing student artists to showcase their work in watercolor, pastel, oil, acrylics, drawing, 3D, photography, and digital illustration/painting.

On Thursday, the awards ceremony and reception celebrated four Lawrence High School students who earned top honors in the 2D and 3D art categories, according to a release from Todd Poteet, an art teacher at LHS.

In the 2D category, Wren Jay claimed first and second place for two pieces, “Wait” and “Swell”, respectively, while Kaiea Blum took third place for the piece “Missing Companions.” In the 3D category, Lawrence High students Piper Journey and Jayden Moore captured first and second place for their creations “Intelligent Octopus” and “Gauntlet.”

Poteet said the high schools represented were Baldwin, Blue Valley, Blue Valley Northwest, Blue Valley West, De Soto, Lawrence, Lee’s Summit, Mill Valley, Olathe North, Olathe Northwest, Platte County, Spring Hill, Staley, Shawnee Mission North and Shawnee Mission South.

The students’ art is available for viewing from now until Dec. 27 at Tim Murphy Art Gallery, 6040 Slater St. in Merriam, Kansas.

photo by: Contributed

“Swell” by Wren Jay won 2nd Place in the 2D category at The Annual High School Visual Arts Competition hosted by the City of Merriam.

photo by: Contributed

“Missing Companions” by Kaiea Blum won 3rd Place in the 2D category at The Annual High School Visual Arts Competition hosted by the City of Merriam.

photo by: Contributed

“Intelligent Octopus” by Piper Journey won 1st Place in the 3D category at The Annual High School Visual Arts Competition hosted by the City of Merriam.

photo by: Contributed

“Gauntlet” by Jayden Moore won 2nd Place in the 3D category at The Annual High School Visual Arts Competition hosted by the City of Merriam.