Troy University hosted the inaugural Trojan Art Day on Friday with art students from 10 area schools participating. Trojan Art Day was held in conjunction with the Visual Arts Achievement Program District II Achievement Awards program and to conclude the District II VAAP arts competition and exhibition held in the Malone Gallery of Fine Arts.

Larry Percy, Troy University associate art professor, said VAAP is a statewide art competition sponsored by the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

“The program provides local and state recognition for student achievement in the visual arts,” Percy said. “The program is designed to offer encouragement to young artists, showcase their work and offer opportunities for advanced training beyond high school.”

Trojan Art Day is a day of visual arts workshops, demonstrations and competitions celebrating the beauty and power of the visual arts and design.

“In order to bring added attention and participation to this important opportunity for Alabama art students from schools without art programs, Trojan Art Day seeks to give established art programs a chance to expose a broader range of students to a variety of careers and majors in the visual arts, while introducing this concept to schools with new or under-served art programs,” Percy said.

Trojan Art Day included wheel throwing, raku and photo demonstrations, a drawing session, a progressive drawing competition, papermaking, digital drawing, sidewalk chalk drawing competition, architecture rendering competition and a collaborative mixed media assemblage.

Schools that participated in Trojan Art Day are Russell County, Prattville, Pike County Greenville, Enterprise, Dothan and Charles Henderson high schools, Springwood School, Coppinville School and Alabama Christian Academy.