By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

The Orion Art Center held their Anything Goes K-8 art Exhibit on Feb. 13, where they showcased the talented students in Lake Orion and passed out several awards.

This year’s exhibit saw 47 pieces of artwork from 28 students across six grade levels. There were no submissions for the Kindergarten to 2nd grade group.

The winners were decided by the Art Center’s Artist of the Year, Betsy Marsh. Marsh will be honored at this year’s Art Gala on March 21.

“Betsy got a late start, she’s unlike some of you guys,” said Karin Starick, executive director of the Orion Art Center. “She retired from her regular job 10 years ago to concentrate on art. It was something she always wanted to do.”

Overall winners were:

First place overall: Martin Luther King, Jr. by Bria Bailey. Brias acrylic painting of Martin Luther King Jr. had good and original likeness, said Marsh.

Marsh also felt the addition of his speech in the background was very creative.

Bria was inspired by what her class had been learning in school at the time.

“My school was talking about it so I wanted to enter it in because people were like, ‘oh Bria you’re really good at art.’ So I was like, okay.”

Second place overall: Eye See the Future by Emily Benn. Marsh said that the pencil drawing had very good contrast with original shading.

Third place overall: Kenneth Simmons from Broadcast Illusion by Jada Fallis.

“He’s from a song and a discontinued series,” Jada explained. “Both were created by GHOST and pals. He’s in what GHOST calls cases, he’s in case two and he’s a pretty unique character.”

Along with the overall winners, student’s that did not receive an overall award were considered for the grade category. Winners by grade include:

Third and Fourth grade — Robert Schramek’s Love Forever. Marsh explained that Robert’s piece was cohesive and had a good use of color.

Fifth and Sixth grade– Elizabeth Johnson’s Sibling Time. Marsh enjoyed the drawing of the two siblings because it showed that the two were connected.

Seventh and Eighth grade — Samantha Tadeo’s Rhino. The detail Samantha used in creating her sculpture was something Marsh noted.

The Anything Goes K-8 art exhibit will be open until March 6 at the Orion Art Center located at 115 S. Anderson St. in downtown Lake Orion.