Safeway helps students make dairy their art
March 10, 2010
Abigail Mota of La Mirada High School, La Mirada, Calif., won the top prize of $30,000 in Safeway's 2009 Art of Dairy competition for her black and white abstract entitled Take It All In, which combines musical instruments and notes, ice cream and flowing milk, and nature landscapes and random shapes.
Turning promotion of its Lucerne dairy brand into art, Safeway, Pleasanton, Calif., has selected 30 student finalists who will compete for a $30,000 grand prize in the 2010 version of its Art of Dairy competition.
The contest is an effort to promote dairy products as healthy snack alternatives for kids. Safeway, via the Lucerne private label, has asked high school students in grades 9 to 12 to submit designs using an outline of a cow as their canvas.
Last year’s contest marked a departure from the earlier Cows in History theme. This year is the second when entrants attempt to accommodate the Taste of Moo-sic theme and translate the essence of music into visual art. Students stepped up to the challenge and produced everything from Pied Piper cows to a bovine rhythm and blues band. More than 9,600 students submitted entries, Safeway noted, the highest participation since the contest began in 2006. Entries were accepted from Sept. 1 to Nov. 3, 2009.
In the competition’s final phase, the 30 finalists will transfer their designs to life-sized fiberglass cow sculptures. Once they are completed, Safeway-owned stores near the finalists’ schools will display the decorated cow sculptures, and a panel of art and music experts will judge them. Safeway will reveal the grand prize winner in May. Schools attended by the finalists will receive a $250 stipend to purchase the art supplies that the competing student will use to complete the cow rendering. Safeway will award $20,000 to the school attended by the winner, plus $5,000 each to the winning student and to that student’s art teacher. Counting this year’s prizes, Safeway has put up $266,000 in prize money and art supply funds through The Art of Dairy contest.
The Art of Dairy finalists are:
Grace Nguyen – Evergreen Valley High School – San Jose, Calif.
Tani Pettit – North Tahoe High School – Tahoe City, Calif.
Jennifer McConnell – Novato High School – Novato, Calif.
Tammy Do – Evergreen Valley High School – San Jose, Calif.
Von Dickens Ulsa – Farrington High School – Honolulu, Hawaii
Ana Estrada – Olympian High School – Chula Vista, Calif.
Sang Lee – John Marshall High School – Los Angeles, Calif.
Christian Taylor – Blair IB Magnet High School – Pasadena, Calif.
Ashley Kasuyama – Walnut High School – Walnut, Calif.
Michelle Washington – Marantha High School – Pasadena, Calif.
Miguel Martinez – Perris High School – Perris, Calif.
Chung-Yu “Mago” Huang – Interlake High School – Bellevue, Wash.
Dorris Hwang – International Community School – Kirkland, Wash.
Emily Elizabeth Schneider – Lake Washington High School – Kirkland, Wash.
Maya Napoles – Inglemoor High School – Kirkland, Wash.
Kathryn George – Knappa High School – Astoria, Or.
Anne Feeny – Lakeridge High School – Lake Oswego, Or.
Jessica Lackey – Centennial High School – Peoria, Ariz.
Alejandro Pulido – South Mountain High School – Phoenix, Ariz.
Kylee Smit – Colorado Springs Christian High School – Colorado Springs, Colo.
Rose Szczur – Rampart High School – Colorado Springs, Colo.
Monica Heilman – William J. Palmer High School – Colorado Springs, Colo.
Bridgette Wilhelmi – Lincoln Way East High School – Frankfort, Ill.
Ashley DeVriar – Joliet West High School – Joliet, Ill.
Kathleen Morrill – St. John’s Catholic Prep High School – Frederick, Md.
Jaynie Chartrand – Walter Johnson High School – Bethesda, Md.
Qin Liu – Northeast High School – Philadelphia, Pa.
Sarah Dinh – South Grand Prairie High School – Grand Prairie, Texas
Minsu Cho – Creekview High School – Carrollton, Texas
Kingsley Onyeiwu – Westbury High School – Houston, Texas.
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