Artwork of two Reagan students on display at rodeo

Submitted by Staff on Mon, 02/08/2010 - 3:10pm.
Grand Champion Barry Carter's "Pretty in Pedernales"

The artwork of two Reagan High School students has been selected for display at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Sharon Gilpin's sculpture, "Cowboy Boot" and Tamarah Mata-Laskey's drawing "Serene Cowboy" are among the top 50 pieces awarded this honor in this year’s Western Art Contest and Exhibit. 

 

Roughly 430 students entered the contest, which accepts original paintings, drawings or sculptures displaying a western theme.  All submissions were judged in December and Gilpin and Mata-Laskey were among the top 50 students to earn a first-place ribbon and a spot in the rodeo exhibit.  

 

Twenty-five art pieces from the top 50 will be auctioned to the highest bidder on the last day of the rodeo.  Each student receives the full amount of the winning bid in the form of a college scholarship.  According to auction organizer Joyce Phillips, the top 25 art pieces in last year’s contest earned approximately $235,000, down from about $250,000 in 2009.   

 

Phillips can't estimate how much Sunday's auction will raise for the student artists.  “Times right now," she says, "it's hard to say." 

 

The artwork of Gilpin and Mata-Laskey are not among the top 25 pieces selected for this year's auction.  

 

Started in 1996 with just seven entries, the Western Art Contest and Exhibit continues to grow in both the number of participants and level of talent.  This year the artwork of the contest's grand champion, Barry Carter of Magnolia West High School, was even selected as the cover of the 2011 Stock Show and Rodeo’s program.  "It was really nice," Phillips says of the recognition, a first in the history of the Western Art Contest.  "Hopefully they will do that again next year."

 

The artwork of all 50 finalists in this year’s Western Art Contest will be on display throughout the entire Stock Show and Rodeo, which will be open every day at the AT&T Center through Feb. 20.  The Student Art Auction will be held at 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 20 in the New Frontier Club. For more information, visit www.sarodeo.com.