YOUNGSTOWN — A recent breakfast combination Evvi McKee made consisted of a slice of bacon, an egg and a waffle — with clay, paint and a kiln added for good measure.

“It’s a clay sculpture of breakfast made to look like a face. My art teacher wanted a piece of food, but she wanted me to put something else into it,” Evvi, a Boardman Center Intermediate School sixth-grader, said.

For her rather filling — and fulfilling — breakfast-turned-artwork, Evvi added an honorable mention award to the ingredients — something she won during the second annual young artists exhibit Sunday afternoon at the Butler Institute of American Art on Wick Avenue.

An estimated 270 pieces of artwork from students in kindergarten through grade six, along with 37 art teachers representing 46 schools in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, made up the two-hour program that included an awards ceremony. First,- second,- third-place and honorable mention ribbons were each given to one student representing each grade.

Evvi, who also writes for her school newspaper, is a highly talented and meticulous student who used a lot of precision with the clay, with a keen eye for detail, to construct her art project before it was fired in a kiln and smoothed, Lori Szoke, Evvi’s art teacher, said. Specifically, Evvi used a special type of glue over the tempera paint to give the piece an added sheen, Szoke said.

“I look for wonderful things from her in the future,” she said about Evvi, who came with her mother, Becky McKee.

Since 1961, March has been National Youth Art Month, of which Sunday’s gathering was a part, with the priority of recognizing and showcasing the works of young artists, Joyce Mistovich, the Butler’s education director, said.

The occasion also seeks to foster in children “a creative spirit” via immersing them especially in the visual arts and, by extension, educating the whole child, Mistovich, a former art teacher, added.

National Youth Art Month, established through The Art & Creative Materials Institute Inc., aims to acknowledge art education “as a viable factor in the total education curriculum that develops citizens of a global society. Recognizing art is a necessity for the full development of a better life for all,” according to the National Art Education Association.

A spiritual component permeated the mixed-media work that Jordan Blasko, a St. Christine School sixth-grader, submitted.

“I go to a Catholic school. I learned in my choir class a song about God, and in dark times, God helps you find the light,” she said.

Perhaps another ray of light for Jordan was the first-place ribbon that accompanied her untitled piece, which looks rather like four large, elongated lights and consists of white charcoal pencil to create its outline and bright parts, along with pastel chalk for the shading. Her artwork also includes pieces of metal she shaped.

In addition, Jordan, who took home a second-place finish in last year’s young artists exhibit, applied thick paint mixed with watercolor over crevices in the metal parts she dabbed with a paper towel, giving them a black look, she said.

“Jordan is a hard worker,” Christina Hammond, her art teacher, said. “She comes in during her recess to do her work.”

Orange was the dominant watercolor that abounded in an autumn landscape piece Mira Greenwalt, a St. Christine School second-grader, created — and for which she received a first-place ribbon.

Among those proud of Mira’s creativity and artistic flair was her grandmother, Susan Walsh, who taught art for 23 years in the Youngstown City Schools.

In addition to being a budding artist with paint, the girl also waxes artistic on the stage, because for about three years, she also has been one of the Little Rascal characters in Easy Street Productions, Walsh said.

In today’s challenging and difficult times, the arts are vital in making the world — and people’s lives — shine more brightly, Mistovich said.

“As we live in a world that is ever-changing, the arts enhance our lives, and, for children, they foster a true creative spirit — one that encourages creative problem solving and using their imaginations to explore, invent and ultimately appreciate the finer things in life,” she added. “Art is the substance in life that gives everything meaning.”

All of the artwork will be on display through Tuesday.

Young artists exhibit top finishers

FIRST PLACE

Maddox Oberle, kindergarten, Robinwood Lane Elementary School, teacher Susan Shook

Jackson Louthan, first grade, Robinwood Lane Elementary, Shook

Mira Greenwalt, second grade, St. Christine School, Christina Hammond

Anna Vouvoudakis, third grade, Lincoln PK-8 School, Kristin Newbrough

Karley Lawrence, fourth grade, Harding Elementary School, Kelly Bervish

Vincenzo Ferraro, fifth grade, Poland Middle School, Sharyn DiMuzio

Jordan Blasko, sixth grade, St. Christine, Hammond

SECOND PLACE

Jaxson Severn, kindergarten, Austintown Elementary School, teacher Elise Cretella

Ezinnerose Chukwu, first grade, St. Charles School, Melissa Peluso

Raiden Silvas, second grade, Robinwood Lane Elementary, Shook

Nico Ferraro, third grade, Stadium Drive Elementary School, Shook

Steven Donato, fourth grade, Campbell Elementary School, Andra LeMarca

Eva Woleben, fifth grade, Canfield Village Middle School, Heidi Garwig

Helena DeAbate, sixth grade, Canfield Village Middle, Garwig

THIRD PLACE

Edric Barnes, kindergarten, Harding Elementary, Bervish

River Crowley, first grade, Campbell Elementary, LaMarca

Jenzen Ramirez Albeno, second grade, Harding Elementary, Bervish

Luna Patterson, third grade, Lincoln PK-8 School, Newbrough

Yanziel Rivera Gonzalez, fourth grade, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Christine Williams

Addyson Flower, fifth grade, Jackson-Milton Elementary School, Krista Rotuna

Carrie Hager, sixth grade, David Anderson Junior High School, Heidi Swift