SILER CITY, N.C. — Charline Jimenez Rojo, a Jordan-Matthews High School artist, has had work selected for the 45th Annual Juried High School Art Exhibition at UNC Pembroke.

Created to provide a professionally organized gallery exhibition that celebrates student talent and accomplishment, the exhibition runs from Thursday, March 19, through Saturday, March 28, in the university's A.D. Gallery. Juror for this year’s exhibition is John Rhodes-Pruitt, an artist whose work combines printmaking, alternative-process photography, origami and drawing.

Jimenez Rojo is a JMArts-NC Arts Incubator Scholar who studied last summer in the UNCG Summer Art and Design Intensive. Early last fall, she was named a 2025-26 Chatham Artists Guild Emerging Artist, being accepted into a competitive membership program to develop promising artistic talent.

Her functional vase, “Delight,” is designed with all that is beautiful in the garden. Butterflies land on a cascade of flowers with twirling vines in a sea of blues and greens. The garden sparkles day and night with delight, while one flower hides to give you a surprise.

Laura Newman, art teacher at Jordan-Matthews, said her student is willing to take a risk with her pottery — always experimenting and challenging herself.

“She’s eager to share her knowledge with others, because she gets so much joy from creating,” Newman said. “She wants others to have this experience as well and others to share in this joy.

“Charline is a brave artist. She approaches her work with an engineering mind and doesn’t get hung up on mistakes. Pottery is an art form that involves risk and chance; you’re not sure what the kiln is going to do to your creation. Will it come out the way you envisioned it? It’s a game of chance and skill.”

All Jordan-Matthews visual and performing artists who receive awards and special honors throughout the year are listed on the JMArts website — at JMArts.org/awards — along with all 79 JMArts Scholars since 2012 and recipients of major, annual arts awards dating back to 2015.

JMArts is a nonprofit foundation created to provide what Jordan-Matthews artists need to excel — including performance showcases, educational opportunities, instruments and supplies, and even new ways of looking at the world. All money received from individual donations, theater admission fees and fundraising events goes directly to projects for students.

# # # #