Local students from the area were nominated at the 2026 Student Art Show at Lincoln Land Community College (LLCC), now on display through May 7. Among those local award recipients were students from Taylorville, Springfield, Rochester, Raymond, and Chatham.

The art will be viewable from 8 AM to 5 PM in the Trutter Museum/James S. Murray Gallery, located on the upper floor of Menard Hall at the Springfield campus, found at 5250 Shepherd Road.

During the reception, games from the game systems and design classes were available for play. Films and animations from the film and special effects class were displayed on a monitor outside the gallery. Inside the gallery, website design from the responsive web design class was displayed.

The art faculty added two extra awards, the Tessellations and Bespoke awards, for this year’s awards ceremony to spotlight unique student work. Award winners were announced at the opening reception on Thursday, April 23. 

The artists and their award-winning art pieces are as follows:

Drawing: Jaxey Lindholm of Taylorville for “Self-Portrait”

Photography: Ashlyn Millburg of Raymond for “Tunnel Vision”

Digital Illustration: Lydia Strawn of Rochester for “I’m Working on Myself”

Best in Show: DeAndre Cameron of Springfield for “Gardens”

Painting: Maggie Suarez of Springfield for “Functional Frieze”

3-D Design: Abby Oller of Springfield for “Lady Liberty”

Art History Award: Ali Higginson of Springfield

Other awarded students included Em Calcara from Athens for graphic design, Marshall Victor of Pleasant Plains for film and animation, Apollo Johnson of Chatham for UI and UX, and Ethan Chon from Chatham for game design.

As for the two new awards, the Tessellations Award went to Hannah Scherf of Springfield for the “highest density in decisions” in creating a self-portrait by collaging tiny pieces of magazine for “Eyes Full of Stars.”

The Bespoke Award was given to Hailey Higgins of Chatham for an “incredibly meticulous body of work” in placing mosaic stones over a 3D form to create her art piece called “My Body.”

Emily Webber of Auburn was honored with the Alexis Wernsing Pinnacle Award. The winner is chosen by the LLCC art faculty and goes to the student who best embodies Wernsing’s qualities of striving for the best in all academic endeavors.

More information on LLCC can be found at www.llcc.edu.