Aromas of coffee beans, vanilla steamers and lattes filled the air at Dawson County High School’s annual winter art show last week.

“Café Melange,” the theme and title of the show, was the idea of senior and show director Caleb Faille.

“‘Melange’ is a French word for ‘coffee blend,’” said Faille. “The theme of the show is basically an urban coffee shop.”

Faille’s theme highly impressed Chris Gore, Dawson County High School art director.

“In terms of this art show, Faille re-invented the wheel,” Gore said.

“It is a difficult task to come up with a new and fresh idea for a theme when this event has been a tradition of the art department for so many years,” he added.

Theme ideas and show planning began back in May, shortly after the spring art show was over.

“The decor of this show made it stand out from the others,” said publicity chairman and high school senior Taylor Tolbert.

“The entrance was decorated more than usual, and the layout of the inside was different,” she added.

The pieces in the show were judged Tuesday, Dec. 9 by a judging panel made up of 25 Dawson County High School art department alumni. Selected by the art director, the panel was a “mixed bag” of former art students that represent the different concentrations in which they are experts.

Twelve of the judges were former show directors, and eight are current art majors at North Georgia College and State University.

“We try to get judges that will be impartial by involving those who didn’t just recently graduate,” said Gore.

The judges ranged from the graduating class of 1997 to 2008.

The artwork in the show ranged anywhere from pencil drawings to watercolor paintings and sculptures to photography.

Along with sub-categories, clay, painting and graphic media were the main categories in which each piece of artwork was crafted in and judged, according to Gore.

E-mail Elizabeth Hamilton at elizabeth@dawsonnews.com.