Ada Arevalo is this year’s Bernice Spigel Prize recipient

Published 8:00 am Friday, March 21, 2025

A highlight of the Student Arts Expo that is currently on display at the Creative Arts Guild is the winning Bernice Spigel Prize for Excellence in the Visual Arts artwork.

Any public, private or homeschooled senior residing or attending school in Dalton, Whitfield County or Murray County is eligible for this coveted award. The prize was created to honor Bernice Spigel, the Guild’s first executive director.

The Guild is pleased to announce the results of this year’s competition. Congratulations go to first place recipient Dalton High School senior Ada Arevalo and runner-up North Murray High senior Eve Collier. Both artists’ work is currently on display in Gallery ONE11.

Arevalo is an artist and illustrator. She has enjoyed using acrylics, charcoal and graphite since elementary art class. Since then, she has immersed herself in every art class available at her school.

One of her favorite subjects to illustrate is cats because of their interesting nature, but also because of her late pet, Whisko, with whom she had a profound connection.

Now in her last year of the International Baccalaureate Visual Arts program, she will graduate from Dalton High School in May with the Georgia Department of Education Fine Arts diploma seal.

“My work expresses the relationship between people and their pets,” she said. “What most interests me is the complicated connection they have in the food web versus the closeness they share due to domestication. What inspires me most is the vision of a childhood surrounded by nature; one which I lacked. Because of this, I made what I wished to have experienced if circumstances had been different in my life. The young girl motif in my work represents the girls I imagine I could have been.”

Ribbon recipients

Prekindergarten

1st – Layker Ridley, Westwood School, “Basquiat Dino King”

2nd – Everett Taylor, Cedar Ridge Elementary, “Giraffe”

3rd – Dylan Martinez, Cedar Ridge, untitled

Honorable mention  – Sadie Diaz, Cedar Ridge, “The Beach”

Kindergarten

1st – Anslee Crabtree, Eton Elementary, “Walrus”

2nd – Caleb Taylor, Varnell Elementary, “Deep Blue Sea”

3rd – Melissa Ramirez, City Park School, “Chicken Bird”

Honorable mention – Isabella Mercedes, Brookwood School, untitled

1st Grade

1st – Walker Adams, Varnell, “The Water Submarine”

2nd – Amelia Rose, Chatsworth Elementary, “Winter Shadows in the Woods”

3rd – Ezlynn Garcia Jacobo, Spring Place Elementary, “Cooky Chickens”

Honorable mention – Emmanuel Sanchez, Varnell, “The Captain is Mad”

2nd Grade

1st – Ofelia Ramirez Bautista, Chatsworth, “In the Cherry Blossoms”

2nd – Liana Southern, Varnell, “Sleepy Lion”

3rd – Rhett Waits, Varnell, “Grrr, Land Ahoy”

Honorable mention – Mariana Villalobos, Roan School, -“Ink Pagoda”

3rd Grade

1st – Abigail Ross, Chatsworth, “Field of Wildflowers”

2nd – Rosie Peters, Westwood, “Basquiat Cat”

3rd – Abigail Richmond, City Park, “Firebird”

Honorable mention – Greyson Anderson, Brookwood, untitled

Honorable mention – Lindzy Ramirez, Westwood, “Basquiat Portrait”

4th Grade

1st – Abby Rogers, Chatsworth, “Rose Garden”

2nd – Bella Gordy, Varnell, “African Dream”

3rd – Shepard Robinson, Varnell, “Captain”

Honorable mention – Ethan Ball, Creative Arts Guild, “Orangutan”

5th Grade

1st – Rebecka Martinez, Varnell, “Welcome to Japan”

2nd – Yuliana Regaldo, Varnell, “Pelican by the Seaside”

3rd – Angelique Brooker, Varnell, “A Wonderful Oops”

Honorable mention – Ellie Ridley, Chatsworth, “Abstract Red Pandas”

6th Grade

1st – Layla Adail, New Hope Middle, “Winter Landscape”

2nd – Camdyn Penson, New Hope Middle, “Koi”

3rd – Ashley Meadows, North Whitfield Middle, “Starry Night”

Honorable mention – Evelyn Herrera, Hammond Creek Middle School, “Rose Value Study”

7th Grade

1st – Mary Pressley, Hammond Creek, “Macaw”

2nd – Judy Zhou, Creative Arts Guild, “Beauty of Shanghai”

3rd – Jenny Sprenger, Creative Arts Guild, “Purple Beauty”

Honorable mention – Jacqueline Ochoa, Gladden Middle School, untitled

8th Grade

1st – Kyleigh Higdon, Creative Arts Guild, “Blue Eyed Roman”

2nd – Marlei Hamilton, Valley Point Middle School, “Marz”

3rd – Alex Stafford, Bagley Middle School, untitled

Honorable mention – Chloe Townsend, Bagley, untitled

9th Grade

1st – Jenna Beavers, Northwest Whitfield High School, “Star Whale”

2nd – Marely Rosas, The Dalton Academy, “Dia De Los Muertos”

3rd – Sarah Norris, North Murray High School, “Taste for Tacos”

Honorable mention – Arya Patel, Dalton High School, untitled

10th Grade

1st – Alondra Mejia, Dalton, untitled

2nd – Namia Mendiola, Coahulla Creek High School, untitled

3rd – Lila Cochran, North Murray, “Love’s Last Gesture”

HM – Haven Earley, North Murray, “Monroe Kisses”

11th Grade

1st – Huda Rizvi Waseem, Dalton, untitled

2nd – Melanie Alvarez, Southeast Whitfield High School, “Exploring Chattanooga”

3rd – Benny Phung, Dalton, “Light”

HM – Chloe Sexton, North Murray, “Beautiful Warning”

12th Grade

1st – Jamir Sanchez, Northwest, “Ender Dragon”

2nd – Sophie Stewart, North Murray, “Objects of Identity”

3rd – Pablo Montoya Perez, North Murray, “Tongue: Red Panda’s Captured Curiosity”

Honorable mention – Dylan Ridley, Murray County High School, “Cheese Ball Fun”

The O.N. Jonas Foundation Art Together Collaborative Awards by grade

K-2: Chatsworth Elementary 1st Grade – “Italian Mosaic”

3-5: Westwood chool 4th grade – “Arcimboldo Portrait”

9-12: Dalton High – “Catamount Singers”

9-12: Coahulla Creek – “Bat Comic and Characters”

You can view all the student art in Galleries FIVE20 and ONE11 at the Guild until March 25.