This year, two students were part of the 136 students that were chosen for Youth Art Month, and now their pieces moved on to the next selection as part of the 8 that were chosen by Governor Greg Abbott. Whoever wins will get their piece put into Governor Abbott’s mansion or his wife’s library. 

Youth Art Month is a national celebration held every March that highlights the value of art education for K-12 students. The first student, Emmalee Armstrong, created a painting titled The Painter’s Poodle

“Well for me, I made a dog show piece that is a separate competition,” junior Emmalee Armstrong said. “I put it into that and it went to the NRG center, where they do rodeo.”

  Armstrong’s art teacher, Margaret Bennett told her that they needed a dog show drawing for Youth Art Month, and that hers was chosen. 

“It was like a 0.5 photo when he was on a walk,” Armstrong said. “He’s a white dog, so I was kind of iffy because I’ve never done a realism piece for an animal or a dog in acrylic, and I didn’t know how to do white.”

Armstrong showed Bennett the picture, and she suggested that Armstrong didn’t need to paint a white dog because he was in the sunlight, so he should be yellow tinted.

“I didn’t really have a sketch in a notebook or anything,” Armstrong said. “I kind of just went straight to the canvas and did a sketch with a pencil on the canvas, and then like an under painting and base colors and stuff like that. Then, I slowly added details.”

Armstrong had been interested in art since she was in kindergarten, and she is proud of how far she has come.

“I’m so excited,” Armstrong said. “I have not seen any of the other art pieces, but I’ve heard that my piece was the only dog piece and that he really likes animals.”

The second student, senior Isabella Anima, took digital media last year and she is the other student here who was also chosen for Youth Art Month. Her submission is a photography piece titled Lifeglow.

“I just submitted this picture last year for an assignment, and he really liked it,” Anima said. “Then it just kept going from there.”

Anima was at the art museum and decided to use it as her location for her photo. She had no idea that one photo she took would get chosen for something as big as Youth Art Month.

“I forgot what the prompt was, but it was just one of our weekly assignments,” Anima said. “Mr. Ricks would have us take a picture weekly outside of school and we’d submit it based on whatever prompt. So if he gave us a nature prompt, we’d have to go take pictures outside and submit our best ones.”

Anima took a quick picture, an ‘opportunity of the moment’ photo because it was a nice place and she also needed a photo assignment.

“The picture is in a dark room,” Anima said. “And it’s kind of like candlelights kind of just floating around and it has mirrors, so you can take a picture of yourself with the lights, but because it’s so dark, you really just see the lights.”

Currently, she is not taking digital media anymore, but she is still taking yearbook, so she is still working with photography.

“I really do like photography,” Anima said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s really creative and it’s really fulfilling when you take a picture you really like.”

Anima believes that the photo kept passing on because many people liked the way she took it.

“I didn’t expect a simple pitch to go that far,” Anima said. “I haven’t seen the other pieces, but I’m assuming that if it went this far, then I should be at a bigger chance of winning.” 

The exhibition with the 8 pieces will be on display at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin during March 2026. Additionally, the award ceremony will take place on March 29, 2026.