Kareem Christmas, Savana Jo Dudzienski and Emily Posada are the winners of an art contest held by author Hector Barrera (back, right). Art teacher Christian E. Wilcox is also seen. (Staff photo)
By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
The winners of the Gold Seal Publisher Art Contest held in conjunction with the San Benito News were announced Friday.
Emily Posada, 11, took the third place prize of $125.00; Savana Jo Dudzienski, 16, won $175.00 for second place; and first went to Kareem Christmas, 17, for the $350.00 award.
All three are students of IDEA Public Schools in San Benito.
Christian E. Wilcox, a 25-year-old first-year art teacher at IDEA, was instrumental in encouraging his students to participate, and now that participation has paid off – literally.
“I think this is going to be a prime example of putting your best foot forward to seek out any opportunity,” Wilcox said. “You don’t know until you try. These contests help improve the community because, really, the fine arts and just the arts in general don’t get a lot of focus in kids’ lives since they’re so consumed with entertainment and music. That’s funny because they don’t realize that it all stems from the arts. So it’s good for them to be able to experience these things and get them involved.”
That sentiment was shared by the author holding the contest, San Benito native Hector Barrera.
Barrera, who now resides in California, met with the three winners inside the News office Friday morning to present them with their winnings as well as contracts. Each student will provide a few more drawings, all of which will illustrate Barrera’s new book, “Bart: The Pear Tree That Grew An Apple.”
“They all certainly have the ability,” Barrera said of the work they submitted. “They’re young and getting pointers and critiques, so it’s helpful in their development. Probably for the first time they’re going to be drawing with some guidelines on how an artist would work with an author.”
The prospect of becoming published artists excited the winners.
“I feel really proud of myself for not only participating but for being able to accomplish this,” Emily said.
Savana said, “I am extremely happy and glad that my art will be published. It’ll help toward my art career, so I have to say thank you to my teacher (Wilcox) that helped me through this whole challenge of submitting the art and getting it done.”
The big winner, Kareem, said he plans on becoming an architect one day but first basked in his achievement on Friday. “I was thinking about architecture, which will still involve drawings,” Kareem said of his future plans. “I’ve been drawing for a really long time, and my friends have been trying to get me to draw for a comic book, but now that I’ll actually be in a book I think it’s pretty awesome.”
“I think what’s exciting for them is the fact that they will be included in a book, so they can use that for part of their portfolio in looking for other projects,” Barrera added. “I came back to support young people in areas that, where I grew up, we didn’t have much of that. So this is in one way to give back, but at the same time you know that there is talent, and when people are creative, this might help support them to take the next step in growth.”
Wilcox said, “I felt that it was really important for them (students) to complete the artwork in class. I’m just very excited and proud that I’m able to say that all my students were able to take the top three prizes. It speaks a lot of their hard work.”
To read this in print, pick up a copy of the June 17 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
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