Sterling schools promote regional juried art show for local artists

Sterling High School’s live feed is carrying a call for artists that ties the Logan County Arts League to the Peter L. Youngers Gallery in a Regional Juried Art Show. The invitation is brief, but it puts a county arts group and a school platform in the same lane, widening the reach of an opportunity meant to showcase exceptional talent and creativity.

That matters in Logan County because the show is not just another display wall. A juried exhibit asks artists to submit work for selection, which raises the stakes for participants and gives the finished lineup more weight for students, hobbyists and professional artists alike. By placing the notice on Sterling High School’s page, RE-1 Valley School District is helping move the opportunity beyond a gallery audience and into the everyday visibility of families, students and community members.

The Logan County Arts League, also known as LOCAL, describes its mission as to “embrace and promote human creativity and culture in Logan County and enhance the lives and economies of our rural communities through the arts.” The organization identifies itself as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit with EIN #74-2000747 and a Sterling mailing address at PO Box 973. Its programs include a Mural Program, a 4-H Sponsorship Program and Sculpture On Loan, showing that the juried show fits into a wider effort to keep arts programming active across the county.

The partnership also connects to a venue with an established educational role. Northeastern Junior College says exhibits in the Peter L. Youngers Fine Arts Gallery give students a chance to view original artwork and, through art courses, display their own work in the annual Student Exhibit. NJC’s art curriculum includes drawing, watercolor, printmaking, painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography and graphic design, so the gallery sits at the center of a broader student arts pipeline.

That pipeline has regional roots. NJC previously announced a Regional Art Show in 2019, when artists were asked to deliver exhibit-ready work to the Youngers Gallery in E.S. French Hall Sept. 18-20 for a show running Sept. 23-Oct. 9, 2019. The college has also hosted collaborative exhibitions with the Sterling Creative District and Mo'Print, reinforcing the gallery’s role as a place where campus art, local creativity and regional partnerships meet.

Colorado’s Creative Districts program is designed to help communities increase jobs, incomes and investments in creative places, and Colorado Creative Industries says its mission is to strengthen visual, performing and literary arts through promotion, resources and funding opportunities. In that context, a juried show in Sterling is more than a single exhibit: it is a public signal that Logan County’s arts community is working to keep creative talent visible, recognized and rooted close to home.