Ten Notre Dame Academy students are working hard on a special art project for the Tall Ships Festival in Green Bay July 26-28.

Josie Bieker, Owen Brummel, Karen Cendejas, Hayden Miao, Emma Paulson, Jessica Wu, John Ehlinger, Charlie Sauter, Rachel Stover and Yana Williams are in IB Art. Theo Phan is in Senior Art Seminar during that period as well and has also been helping with the project.

The whole class works on it on Mondays, while the seniors, who have already finished their IB submission, have been working on it more frequently.

Using a design created by Rachel Stover, the project is actually part of a contest. For individual students, it could be an example of collaborative work. Stover could also used the fact that her design won to boost a resume.

Organizers of the Tall Ship Festival emailed art teachers in the area asking if they would like to participate in an art competition. Eight schools decided to take on the challenge.  

In the beginning of the project each student in IB submitted a design proposal. The class then voted on their favorite idea, which ended up being Stover’s. She proposed cutting apart the sail to create a map of the Great Lakes that could be hung like a mobile.

According to Bradshaw, winning the contest “would definitely bring awareness to our program and the work we are doing here at NDA. It would be a testament to the skills and talent students possess and the time they put into their work.”

The only requirement for the contest is that 80% of the sail be used in the work. It could be 2D or 3D and any other materials could be used in the creation of the artwork.

“I was surprised to find that they were full-sized sailboat sails. The school’s names were drawn randomly to select sails. Unfortunately, we were chosen last, but most of the sails had very similar features, so it wasn’t a huge disadvantage,” Bradshaw said.

Due to the sheer size of the piece, it would be difficult to display it at NDA. The final project will be approximately 15 feet tall.

If they win, however, a photo could be displayed here.

The students talked about what they would do if they won the contest, such as doing a trip somewhere or getting some materials that would otherwise be out of the budget.