Art Competition-- VOTING begins Monday, April 23rd

Art students at Hixson High School worked long hours on two pairs of shoes for a recent Vans shoes competition.  They were one group of 500 competitors.  Just this week we learned that they are in the top 50! This is super news.  Beginning April 23rd, the public has the opportunity to vote for their favorite shoes.  The top 5 winners get some pretty cool stuff.

In the words of Katie Claiborne, one of the art teachers at Hixson High School, from her Facebook post on April 18:

"My art students at Hixson High made it into the top 50 in the Vans Custom Culture Competition. This means that they are in the running to win $75,000 for the art department plus a visit from Vans and a cookout and concert for the whole school! What we need now is your help voting for our project. Our only hope of winning is if you and EVERYONE YOU KNOW vote for us!!!! Voting is open from April 23 to May 4. You are allowed to cast ONE VOTE PER DAY at vans.com/customculture until voting ends at 5pm PST/8pm EST on May 4. The only catch is you can not offer anyone anything in exchange for their vote. Please please please share this. Please vote every day. We are a public high school and there is never enough funding for the arts, but this would open a ton of doors for these students. Please vote and help these students get the recognition they deserve for their hard work! #VansCustomCulture"

You may wonder why I am super excited to promote Hixson High School and their art program.

My teenager, Charlie, is a junior there this year and had a significant role in this project.  Charlie loves art, is active in the art club at the high school, and plans to pursue art and design in higher education.

The art students worked super hard on both pairs of shoes and their work paid off to get them in the top 50.  It is our turn to get them in the top 5.

The pictures below were taken by one of the art students, Addison Flanigan.  The photography itself is art and Addison did a great job.  

Remember, you can vote DAILY from April 23rd to May 4th.

Here are the pictures of the shoes from Hixson High school: (cave shoes and Chattanooga scenes shoes)

Thanks for checking out these shoes!  I hope you'll remember to vote.

I don't know if Vans will be making any of the shoes, but I would sure like a pair of the Chattanooga shoes.  They are cool.  I adore the cave shoes too, but I don't think they are made to walk around in.  However, they would make for a super nightlight feature in a room.

I am also looking forward to seeing what the other 49 competitors came up with because I imagine there are some pretty cool looking shoes out there.  My vote is going to Hixson High School!

Go Wildcats!

Debra
------------

Update:

An article in the Chattanoogan.com on April 21 offers a great description of the shoes: Hixson High Competes To Win $75,000 For Its Art Department

An article in Times Free Press.com on April 23-- Hixson High team advances in Vans competition for $75,000

Vote here!