Art students Phoebe Turner, Aylee Coleman and Madison McConnell all placed in the Houston Livestock Rodeo Art Competition for their artwork, which will be on display at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in the Hayloft Gallery from Feb. 27 to March 17. The results were as follows: senior Phoebe Turner- gold medal, junior Madison McConnell- gold medal and junior Aylee Coleman- Best of Show.
“Winning gold in the Houston Rodeo Show isn’t easy and there’s a lot of amazing competition around Texas,” Turner said. “I was also really happy because this is my 3rd time winning gold.”
The competition is open to K-12th grade and prizes to those who place may include free tickets to the Houston Rodeo show fairgrounds and scholarship money.
“It’s a good challenge,” Coleman said. “You’re pretty restricted and you’re encouraged to draw realism, so it’s a fun challenge to push you outside of your comfort zone.”
Each of the art students found inspiration for their piece in a different way.
“My parents inspire me the most to create art,” McConnell said. “I love it because it’s relaxing and gives me a place to decompress.”
Turner claims that the idea for her piece simply came to her day by day.
“I would also say I was really inspired by things I had seen at last year’s show, seeing all the different things people could come up with when given a vague prompt,” Turner said. “It was also the first time I’ve ever painted a person, and I really wanted to challenge myself for my senior year.”
Coleman’s piece was a colored pencil portrait of two pigs eating. Coloring is her favorite part of art because she loves using bright colors to tell a story.
“When I was with a group of friends at someone’s house, I noticed their neighbor’s had farm animals,” Coleman said. “I started to take pictures when I found these two cute pigs. I knew I wanted to draw them.”
Turner accredits her success in art to the environment, her peers, and her art teacher for all being so supportive. She encourages anyone interested to participate in the Houston Livestock Rodeo Art Competition.
“It’s very simple, besides a couple strict rules you have to follow,” Turner said. “The prompt is vague and allows you to be creative with whatever art medium you please. The rodeo competition is an amazing opportunity if you’ve never competed before.”
