Mollianne K is one of our “Best in Show” Junior Art winners for the 2024 McHenry County Fair. However, her art career started much earlier.
Mollianne was born into a creative home, where art is a passion shared by her mother and younger sister. She has loved drawing for as long as she can remember, and colored pencils are her favorite medium. However, she’s also experienced with watercolors, acrylic paints, alcohol markers, graphite, oil, pastels, clay and wire sculptures, woodworking, photography, and I’m sure the list is still growing.
In 2019 Mollianne entered her first art exhibition through 4-H at eight years old, and her first McHenry County Fair Junior Art exhibition at 11. Over the years she has entered artwork in the drawing, acrylic paint, metal art, photography, and woodworking categories. Her art has competed at the state level, and she has won two Illinois State Champion titles. One in woodworking for her handcrafted model horse barn and wash bay, and one in Career Pathway Exploration for her published author and illustrator project. She’s also competed in the non-art categories of hippology and embryology.
At just 13 years old Mollianne is already a well-rounded and accomplished artist. While many artists are held back by the fear of scrutiny, Mollianne loves having her art on display throughout “fair week”, and competing has been a great opportunity for meeting other artists and sharing techniques. She also credits the support of her teachers, Leslie Michaels and Efrain Gonzalez, and her friend and artist, Sophia, towards her success.
For Mollianne, art is the end goal. She plans to continue to develop her skills and hopes to earn a scholarship one day. The McHenry County Fair is happy to have her in our art exhibitions and we look forward to the beauty her art will bring to it in 2025.
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