NAHS participates in local mural competition
photo by Caitlyn Hale
Juniors Anna Lawrence and Abby Stevenson draw an alligator in chalk at the Creative Arts Festival mural competition. The contest is the second one that the club has participated in this year, following the Arts for Life festival.
With a few stunning murals already under its belt, the National Art Honor Society made a return to chalk art competitions.
“We had a great time and could really take advantage of the fact that we did a mural competition back in November,” NAHS sponsor Omar Otero said. “The murals turned out beautifully.”
On Friday, NAHS attended the Creative Arts Festival at Faith Christian Academy after their success at the previous Arts for Life festival in Winter Park, where they won first place in the European Master Portrait chalk art imitation contest, despite never having participated in a mural competition previously.
“I would say that our success encouraged us to sign up for this one more than anything,” NAHS vice president Caitlyn Hale said. “A representative from Faith Christian Academy liked our work so much that they invited us to this competition.”
Otero and six NAHS members arrived at Faith Christian Academy at 11 a.m., having plenty of time to plan out their murals. Following the competition guidelines, the club created three Florida-themed murals. Hale, who worked on a landscape drawing of the Fort Myers’ pier with president Amanda Negron, said that while her group came more prepared than last time, some aspects of the festival still caught her by surprise.
“We were the only public school students there, and there were at least 30 other teams,” Hale said.
Along with the Fort Myers pier, the club members also drew murals depicting orange blossoms, alligators and a sun setting over the Everglades. According to Otero, the theme allowed the group to create murals based off of their own experiences in Florida, while the last competition, which required them to draw murals based on European works of art, did not allow them to do that.
The club left at 3 p.m., but not before discovering another upcoming mural contest set to take place March 25 during the 2023 Art Expo Festival in Altamonte Springs.
“We didn’t take home any awards this time because there were so many teams, which we weren’t expecting,” Hale said. “But I’m still looking forward to showcasing our work at Altamonte next month.”
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