A group of Franklin High School art students have the chance to bring thousands of dollars home to their school district by participating in the “Vans Custom Culture” contest.
The Vans shoe company, which has been around since the 1960s and has gained a place in pop culture in the last two decades, has organized the annual competition since 2009.
The goal of the contest has always been for high school students across the country to let their art loose on a pair of blank white Vans for a chance to win cash prizes for their school’s art program.
For Franklin’s phase one, art teacher Darrellyn Freeman said the participating students created a digital mockup of their designs for the themes “Head in the Clouds” and “Hometown Pride.”
The students then voted which design they liked best to actually submit to the contest.
The “Head in the Clouds” shoes will be a combination of designs by Halle Plowman and Gracia Riddle and will feature a person with head lifted up, eyes closed, and hair flowing around the shoe into a galaxy design.
The favorite “Hometown Pride” shoes were designed by Jenna Long and depict a winter view of the intersection of Franklin’s 12th and Liberty streets that will be completed with 3-D models of cars, trees and landmarks, including the Venango County Courthouse.
Long also placed small blue figures in place of ice sculptures in Fountain Park.
This year, only 250 schools were chosen for phase two, and Franklin was one of them.
“I was very surprised,” said Plowman, who admitted she completed her design just the night before it was submitted.
The rest of the group agreed it was a shock to move forward, but Freeman said Franklin was also in this position two years ago but didn’t make it past the second round.
Freeman said she and the students learned from that experience and it has only made them better.
“It kind of gave us perspective. This is what we did last time, how do we up that game so that we can really push ourselves,” Freeman said.
“There’s a lot more teamwork happening right now,” Freeman added. “With this (year) it’s more like a holistic experience where each kid is putting their hands on (the project) and just bringing what they have to the table.”
Once the shoes are complete, which in this case will include tiny polymer clay and 3-D printed pieces, alpaca wool and a slew of other mixed media art mediums, they will be photographed and submitted once again to Vans.
Vans will donate $50,000 to the winning school’s art program, students will receive free shoes and there is an opportunity for a live music performance. The remaining four finalists will receive $15,000.
The group is skeptical, at best, of their chances, something that stems more from the size of their school district as opposed to their level of talent.
“It’s just knowing that these big schools are going to be competing in it and we’re just from Franklin, Pennsylvania,” Plowman said.
Riddle agreed and said the thought of how many schools Franklin is up against is “a little overwhelming.”
But if the students do win, or even make it to the next round, they all agreed it would be a big confidence boost for them. They also noted that their achievements might bring more interest to the art program at Franklin.
Freeman agreed on both counts, and she said she is already proud of what her students have accomplished.
“They call me the ‘art mom’ because I’m always like ‘I’m just so, so proud,'” Freeman laughed. “But it would mean the world to me to just see their eyes and faces light up, to see them proud about themselves, that would be my prize.”
