Canyon Lake High School (CLHS) senior Baten Evans won first place in the 2023 San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Western Art Contest in December 2022, Comal ISD said in a press release today.
His winning entry, “Rodeo Metal Rooster,” took the top prize in the 3D-Other Medium category.
“I made this metal sculpture of a rooster out of scrap metal from a much larger project I’m working on in my welding class,” Evans said. “I was going for a more abstract look, and I wanted to use various materials that I knew would complement the shape of the rooster in a unique way. It all worked out pretty well after a lot of experimenting with the scrap pieces and welding each one item at a time.”
CLHS junior Sydney Jackson and Smithson Valley High School junior also received top 25 ribbons in the western art contest.
The title of Jackson’s clay entry is “Curious Jack Rabbit.” Ingram’s graphic entry is called “Horsing Around.”
The annual contest is open to South Central Texas high school students ages 14 to 18 who are enrolled in a Texas public, private or home school, the school district said. This includes 183 eligible school districts in 54 counties. This year, there were more than 430 entries in 12 categories.
Artists were asked to submit western art representative of the heritage, lifestyle and landscape of the American West, both historical and present day.
Evans said he immediately thought of a rooster.
“To tie everything together, I placed my work on top of a cedar wood base that I made, and my art teacher helped me with the copper inlay.”
His teacher, Nell Anderson — just named New Braunfels Art League’s Artist of the Year — said she’s excited and proud, but not surprised by Evans’ award.
“He is a very hard-working student who takes every opportunity to compete in any art contest,” she said. “He is genuine, has a lot of potential and is successful in whatever he sets his mind to. Two years ago he was CLHS’ first sophomore to take the AP art and pass the exam, and now he is the first student to win the western art contest.”
