Five Kellogg Community College art students placed among the finalists of a regional art contest designed to raise awareness about water quality, with two placing in the top three.
Rain barrels decorated by KCC students Madeline Ramos and Austin Wisner were last week voted second and third place, respectively, in the 2016 Rain Barrel Roadshow Art Contest, sponsored by the Battle Creek Clean Area Water Partners and the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council. Rain barrels decorated by KCC students Alex Sakellariou, Tim Stillson and Scott Stout were selected as three of the six finalist designs that toured the region as part of the contest this summer.
A rain barrel designed by Katelyn Post, a Kalamazoo Valley Community College student, was voted first place in the contest.
KCC art professor who used the contest to give his ART 103: Two-Dimension Design students a real-world assignment during the Spring 2016 semester, said he was impressed by his students’ dedication to the project.
“This was a great project to get an entire class involved in using art for community awareness,” Williams said. “I’m proud that from the public vote the quality of our students was recognized.”
The Rain Barrel Roadshow contest was launched last spring as a way to raise awareness and begin discussions about how individual, everyday actions can impact a community’s water quality. As part of the contest, students from KCC and Kalamazoo Valley Community College were invited to use rain barrels as canvases for original art.
Six rain barrel designs were chosen as finalists and toured the region over the course of five Rain Barrel Roadshow stops this summer, beginning with Battle Creek’s Spring into the Arts event May 20 and continuing at locations in Kalamazoo, Parchment and Vicksburg. Members of the public had the opportunity to view the artwork, learn about rain barrels and vote for their favorite rain barrel design at each stop; the designs with the most votes were announced during the Kalamazoo Art Hop on Aug. 5.
Pictured above, from left to right, are details from the top three winning designs, including Post’s “Industrial Wave,” Ramos’ “Water Fight!” and Wisner’s “Overlooked.”
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