2026 Helen Mears Memorial Art Contest Winners

Each spring, the GFWC – Menomonie Woman’s Club invites 7th and 8th-grade

students from Dunn County schools to participate in the annual Helen Mears Memorial Art Contest. The club recently announced the winners of the 2026 contest.

Class A (schools with an art teacher)

Sculpture

1st Place – Riley Lehman (Menomonie Middle School)

2nd Place – Chase Clark (Boyceville Middle School)

3rd Place – Jacob McWithey (Menomonie Middle School)

Honorable Mention – Rachel Sorensen (Menomonie Middle School)

Honorable Mention – Olive Mau (Menomonie Middle School)

Painting and Drawing

1st Place – Rory Dunbar (Menomonie Middle School)

2nd Place – Brooklyn Nass (Menomonie Middle School)

3rd Place – Raven Naughton (Boyceville Middle School)

Honorable Mention – Brooklyn Fuhrman (Menomonie Middle School)

Honorable Mention – Genevieve Lofgren (Elk Mound Middle School)

Class B (schools without an art teacher)

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Sculpture

1st Place – Lydia Bensend (FOCUS Homeschool Co-op)

2nd Place – Isaac Cimino (Summit Christian Academy)

3rd Place – Madelyn Cimino (Summit Christian Academy)

Painting and Drawing

1st Place – Ella Harder (St. Paul’s Lutheran)

2nd Place – Keira Lee (Summit Christian Academy)

3rd Place – Sophia Olson (FOCUS Homeschool Co-op)

Honorable Mention – Madisyn Hestekin (Summit Christian Academy)

Honorable Mention - Joseph Gowling (St Paul’s Lutheran)

The art contest, which began in 1927, was established to honor Helen Farnsworth

Mears, a Wisconsin sculptor, was born in Oshkosh in 1872. At the early age of just 20

years old, her clay sketch of a woman and a winged eagle, entitled “Genius of Wisconsin” was commissioned for the World’s Columbia Exposition of 1893.

The completed nine-foot marble piece now stands in the Wisconsin State Capitol. In addition to the statue in the state capitol, her work is also on display in the National Statuary Hall and the Smithsonian Institution, both in Washington, D.C. as well as the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

The Helen Mears contest is just one of the many activities of the Menomonie Woman’s

Club. For more information about the club, please visit our Facebook page (GFWC –

Menomonie Woman’s Club) or contact Linda Rundle, club president, at 715-210-5705 or skirun4@yahoo.com

Submitted article.