Saturday, May 15, 2010

Students Vie for $10K Grant

By Elaine D. Briseño
Journal Staff Writer
          A group of Rio Rancho High School students got star treatment this week in California.
        And they're hoping to come home with a $10,000 art grant for their school.
        The 19 art students will find out today if they won a national shoe design contest. The students are one of four groups of finalists.
        The shoe company, Vans, this week took the finalists to Disneyland, where contestants were expected to meet the judges: skate legend Tony Alva; actor Nikki Reed, who appeared in "Twilight" and "Lords of Dogtown"; artist Greg "Pnut" Galinsky; and Kritian Dechter, editor-in-chief of Foam Magazine.
        Students were also expected to tour the Vans offices and meet with staff designers.
        Vans put out a call earlier this year to all high schools to participate in the shoe design contest. Rio Rancho High art teacher Matthew Lutz entered and picked students to participate based on their talent, reliability and personality.
        "It's what you would want in someone you were looking to hire for a job," he said. "We had no idea at the time what we were getting ourselves into."
        The company then sent four white shoes, each representing one of four themes: action sports, art, music and street fashion.
        Rio Rancho students met on a Saturday in March to brainstorm. They decided to use an urban theme and sketched out ideas. Once narrowing it down, about five students painted the shoes.
        Vans received 326 entries and narrowed it down to 20. Internet voting determined the final four.
        Senior James Joseph, Rio Rancho's team leader, and his classmates then flooded the school with flyers and visited local malls.
        "A lot of people have told us they like the detail we have on the shoes," he said. "Our shoes looked clean and crisp. We wanted to make sure they looked professional."
        The music shoes are hightops with black, beige and white that feature talons, buildings and feathers. The lime green and bright blue street fashion shoes are the most colorful of the bunch. The action sports shoes have a cracked swimming pool that fades into ocean waves, with the sides of the shoe painted to look like wood grain to represent the texture of a skateboard. The art shoes feature a face, paintbrushes and words.
        Joseph, who plans to attend fashion design school in New York, said he was inspired by the experience and was looking forward to meeting the company's design team.
        Chirs Overholser, spokesman for Vans, said this is the first time the company has held the contest. He said the student's shoes could be used as a basis for future designs.
        The winner will receive a $10,000 art grant for their school.
        "In a time of tight budgets where art in schools may be cut, we wanted to call attention to the creative talents kids have and art in schools," Overholser said. "The company has always taken inspiration from young people and their energies."
       

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