Anna Arter’s artwork, titled “Ducks at Dawn,” won a first-place spot in the Lilly Center Art Contest. Photo Provided.
Anna Arter’s artwork, titled “Ducks at Dawn,” won a first-place spot in the Lilly Center Art Contest. Photo Provided.
WINONA LAKE – This year, nearly 300 students from Kosciusko County schools drew inspiration from local lake and streams to create art for the Lilly Center Art Contest.

The 20 winning pieces are now on display in the Warsaw Alley in downtown Warsaw and at the Lilly Center, according to a news release from the Center.

Anna Arter created “Ducks at Dawn,” a first-place winner. “I really enjoyed working on all the intricate details and colors to make my piece life-like,” Arter said. “It was interesting to see how all the colors and textures came together. I never realized how many colors were actually in one object.”

Arter attends Whitko High School and is in Daniel Malicki’s art class. While preparing art for the Lilly Center’s contest, the class talked about how artists can intersect and impact conservation. They looked at well-known artists like John Audubon and Ansel Adams.

“We talked about our observations and experiences in nature, and how we can make our experiences and observations relatable to the viewer,” Malicki explained.

The class decided their objective of their artwork was to help keep local waterways clean, and to preserve the beauty of nature for themselves and future generations.

First-place winners were:

• Anna Arter, “Ducks at Dawn”

• Gavin Born, “Woods”

• Morgan Dyck, “Dog Days”

• Estelle Jaumard, “Dabbling Ducks”

• Allyson Peconga, “Morning Cruise”

Second-place winners were:

• Myra Buckles, “The Bridge”

• Will Ellis, “Zen at Dusk”

• Ariel Ross, “Among the Lillies”

• Joshua Thurston, “Lil’ Winona”

• Andrew Zink, “To a Newt, a Stream is a River”

Third-place winners were:

• Norah Ellis, “Ducks at Dawn”

• Ryce Noragon, “Birds of a Feather”

• Anna Robertson, “Turtle in a River”

• Zoey Van Hawk, “Fun Times at the Lake”

• Zoe Yarger, “Nature’s Engineer”

Honorable Mention winners were:

• Kaylee Gaff, “Just Keep Swimming”

• Katelynn King, “Weeds in the Lake”

• Margot Sprankle, “Seagull and Kites”

• Lincoln Rosswurm, “Wandering Wilds”

• Vivian Piecuch, “Hatching Turtle”

The Lilly Center Art Contest motivates 9- to 18-year-old students to notice local water resources, and what lives in and around them. After winners are selected by the art department at Grace College, the winning pieces are placed on display at locations throughout Kosciusko County.

This year, starting this week, you can view the artwork at the Warsaw Alley in downtown Warsaw, and at the Lilly Center, 806 Connection Circle, Winona Lake.

Lake City Bank, Zimmer Biomet and Dekko Foundation underwrote the Lilly Center Art Contest. Other sponsors of the contest include city of Warsaw Stormwater Utility, Clearwater Car Wash, Didage & Surgical Power, Joy Lohse, Kay Young - Todd Realty, Medtronic, The Papers and The Watershed Foundation.