Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.” And one Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College student, Catherine Manduca, is out to prove she is an outstanding pupil. Manduca, a student at the Jefferson Davis Campus, has won awards at the state and local level, winning two awards recently at the Ocean Springs Art Exhibit, a juried event. She won both the Walter Anderson Award for her painting “Coneflowers” and the Peter Anderson Award for her pottery piece, “Blue Violet Vessel.”
Her painting instructor, Sandra Halat, also won one of five Exceptional Merit Awards at the Ocean Springs Art Exhibit for her painting “Roman Pigeon.” Halat said that Manduca is an exceptional student. “Catherine is an outstanding student who is driven to do well in her art. She has taken nearly every art class we offer, including pottery and ceramics, and is always ready for more. She will be very successful in anything she pursues.”
Manduca, who is a sophomore from Ocean Springs, is not sure of what the future holds with her art, but her immediate plans involve marrying Justin Daniel, a fellow Gulf Coast student, in May. “I am not exactly sure where this all will lead,” she said. “There are many things I want to do. For now, I can honestly say I am honored to receive two awards from this particular show because it is a big show. It is only the second time I have entered my work, and it really shows me that I can achieve things I didn’t think I could. I have truly learned a lot from the process, and that is important. I want to continue that growth as an artist.”
And as for the student surpassing the master, Halat added, “It is nice for an instructor to win but twice as nice for us when our students win. That is really what we work so hard to accomplish – successful students.”
