Chalking It Up

Art Contest Winners Celebrate Frederick

This year, we asked our readers to get their chalk out and take a crack at their best artwork. There were no guidelines beyond that. Just chalk and a piece of pavement. It could be anywhere. The only thing we asked is that the artwork fit with our theme of “Celebrating Frederick,” even in the abstract.

So, here they are—our four finalists, including a grand winner.

Runner-Up

Carol Lee and Gretta Benson

Lee, a retired library associate, says she and Benson, a retired teacher, “truly believe [children] are our future. Now, we volunteer directly with some of these youth-focused nonprofits or indirectly through the Women’s Giving Circle of Frederick County.” Their artwork reflects their mission. “We relished the opportunity to explore our artistic creativity and celebrate Frederick’s youth.”

Runner-Up

Cynthia Scott

“People see what they see,” says Scott, “and their visions are real to them because at the neurological level perception is a combination of belief, expectation, memory, imagination, intuition and just a bit of visual input. I like to keep mascara on my sidewalk chalk ‘NeuroEye.’”

Runner-Up

Brittany Bushey

Bushey, an art major at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, created a tree of life in Frederick. “Instead of leaves, I used butterflies representing a change of time and, on some of the butterflies, specific areas in Frederick.” One building represented is the Record Street Home, where Bushey worked over the summer. “I wanted to create this piece at the home for the resident ladies to enjoy seeing.”

Winner

Celia Clark

Inspired by the iconic Frederick skyline, Clark “included as many church spires as I could, basing them on the real outlines.” Filling out the piece are Black-eyed Susans, the official state flower of Maryland. Clark says she made the piece by first sketching the outline and filling it in with sidewalk chalk, before finishing with chalk pastels that made the colors pop.