The USS Fort Worth Commissioning Committee feted the four winners of a Fort Worth schools art contest tonight before the Black Tie and Boots gala at the Galveston Convention Center.
Othon Ramirez, a fourth grader at Lily B. Clayton Elementary, won the Elementary 2-D category. His art teacher is Amber Bailey.
“I sort of made my own image with my own imagination,” he said of his 9 x 12 pen and ink and watercolor profile of the ship in water. “They’re helping the Coast Guard patrol the seas.”
Angel Juarez, an 8th grader at Meadowbrook Middle School, won the middle school 2-D category with his 9 x 12 watercolor ocean scene with the ship. His art teacher is Angela Lendzioszek.
“I looked at the pictures on Google and I liked the side,” he said. “I wanted to build the sunset on the water getting from lighter to darker.”
Demetris Tate, a senior at Dunbar High School, won the high school category for his 9 x 12 black graphite drawing of a sailor saluting the ship. Tate, who had to recreate the drawing in a few hours after a fire destroyed his family’s apartment days before the contest deadline, drew a hug from Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price at tonight’s ceremony. His art teacher is Josh Fletcher.
Yaset Soto, a fifth grader at Dolores Huerta Elementary School, won a special elementary 3-D category for her model of the ship. The body was cut from foam, and she used everyday objects such as bristles from a brush to detail the ship.
While virtually all of the entries were drawings and paintings, Yaset said she decided a model would be different might give her a good shot to win. Her art teacher is Yolanda Darden.
“I thought it would be cool to make a three-dimensional,” she said.
The students got to meet the ship’s two co-commanders and other members of the commissioning committee.
“You’ve made yourself a piece of history,” T.D. Smyers, chairman of the committee, told them. “Don’t stop. It’s just the beginning.”
- Scott Nishimura, Star-Telegram Fort Worth City Hall reporter
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