Avella students finalists in shoe design contest
Courtesy of Avella Area School District
Avella High School is vying to win the Vans Custom Culture shoe design contest. Pictured are the two pairs of Vans sneakers they created using paint brushes and paint markers. Voting ends May 6.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Avella High School art students are vying to win the Vans Custom Culture shoe design contest and earn the $50,000 top prize. They are among the top 50 teams left competing. Pictured in the front row, from left, are Brittany Ross, Aja Miller, Ms. Jessie Miller, and Sandy Chilzer. Back row, from left, are Annie Paradise, Samantha Combs, Victoria Rush, Hannah Bower, Allie Brownlee, Melanie Dubich, Sydney Strop, Zac Carrell and Madison Zeiker. In all, 18 students, including those in the photo, drew and painted the shoes. Other art department students contributed ideas that went into the final design.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Avella High School is competing in the Vans Custom Culture shoe design contest. Pictured are the two pairs of Vans sneakers they created using paintbrushes and paint markers. Voting ends May 6.
When Avella High School art teacher Jessie Miller told her students in February they were one of only 250 schools selected nationwide to participate in the Vans Custom Culture shoe design contest, they were elated.
The news got even better on April 25, when the students found out they made the top 50.
Now, the public gets to decide the winner of the $50,000 top prize.
Anyone can visit https://customculture.vans.com/ and vote for Avella High School between now and May 6. Voters can vote one time each day.
The rest of the top five will also receive cash prizes of $15,000.
In the competition, students got two pairs of blank Vans shoes to use as a canvas.
“The kids were so excited when they found out we were selected to participate. Immediately, they started drawing their ideas,” said Miller, who wasn’t aware of the competition until senior Morgan Ondrick mentioned it.
For the contest, one pair of Vans needs to represent “Hometown Pride.” The second has to reflect the legacy of sports, art, music, and street culture that was embraced by Vans Shoe company co-founder Paul Van Doren, who died this year.
Art students in grades nine through 12 contributed ideas, and, ultimately, 18 students drew and painted the shoes.
“It was neat to be able to see all of the kids work collaboratively on this at all grade levels,” said Miller.
Avella Area School District is a small rural school district with about 680 students, a fact the students embraced.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere, and we don’t even have a red light in town,” said Miller. “We wanted to show the pride we have in our small district and town.”
One Avella High School tradition is an annual tractor day, where students drive their tractors to school.
To capture that on a lace-up Vans shoe, students painted the shoe to resemble a John Deere tractor.
Freshman Zac Carrell disassembled a toy tractor and painted pieces – including wheels and tractor tires, and then attached them to the shoe.
“The most challenging thing was reassembling the wheel base to fit the shoe,” said Carrell.
The other shoe represents an Avella Eagles Homecoming float and attaches to the tractor. The Vans shoe, set atop wheels, features the blue and yellow Avella Eagle mascot, Avella flag, parade float fringe, and graffiti-style lettering.
In both of the sneakers, students removed the shoelace and placed lights, which work, in the eyelets.
“Avella has a Homecoming Parade float every year, and it does one loop around part of the town. It’s something that the community turns out for, and that’s what a lot of people remember, the parade float,” said Miller. “We wanted to do the float to represent the entire school district and all of the activities and all of the celebrations that everybody in the community gets to enjoy.”
For the pair of slip-on Vans, the students depicted the merging of country life and city life.
On the left shoe, an artist in Pittsburgh is spray painting onto the right shoe, and the spray paint turns into water filling Cross Creek Lake. The “country” shoe features covered bridges, barns, farmland and trains, while the “city” shoe depicts a cityscape, subway, and a boom box.
“We’re rural, but we’re close to Pittsburgh, and a lot of kids from here move there, but still keep their ties here. The shoes tell the story that no matter where they end up, they have their roots in the country,” explained Miller.
Sophomore Madison Zediker painted the artist and other details on the city and country shoes. Zediker and junior Annie Paradise headed the design teams.
“The most challenging and fun part was testing my artistic abilities because when I was painting the guy, I’d never painted a person with that much detail, shading the jeans and the hat,” she said.
If Avella wins the competition, which includes a concert by a surprise music star and a barbecue on the school campus, Miller said the school district would renovate the art room, and purchase new art tables and chairs.
Miller also would like to purchase a new sublimation heat press machine that would enable the students to design, make and sell shirts, hats, coffee mugs and other items as a source of income for the art department and its projects and field trips.
“Because of our rural location and lack of financial means, our students do not have many opportunities to enjoy everything the art community in larger cities have to offer,” said Miller. “No matter what happens, it’s been a great experience and we’re proud of the final result.”
The students, for their part, want to win.
“Our art department needs it desperately,” said senior Sandy Chilzer. “Even though I won’t be here to enjoy it because I am a senior and am leaving, I definitely hope future students have the chance to use the money toward building their artistic abilities, because I know Miss Miller definitely pushes everyone. She sees the potential in all of us and she pushes us.”
Editor’s note: The winners will be announced the week of May 16. Visit https://customculture.vans.com/ to vote for Avella High School between now and May 6.