UPDATED December 12, 2023 - For the second year in a row, a Comal Independent School District student was awarded a $10,000 scholarship for original artwork entered in the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Western Art Contest.
Student artist Madeleine ‘Madz’ Patten from Hill Country College Preparatory High School received the Champion in Sculpture award for her original piece titled “Ironclad Hooves” depicting a bucking horse.
“I was shocked to win this scholarship,” says Patten, 17. “It means a lot to be recognized for my efforts, especially when it’s something that can help me reach my goals for my future.”
The high school junior explained that she created her entry during the Thanksgiving break at the urging of her art teacher, Natalie Jones.
“I created this piece by collecting various discarded metal scraps from dad’s old bodywork shop,” she says. “It mostly consisted of old car parts. It was kind of like assembling a 3D puzzle, except there were no instructions and all the pieces were from different puzzles.”
Patten, who enjoys creating 3D art and sculptures, welded the pieces together to achieve the bucking horse with a metal base and details that include a flowing mane.
“I love creating art because I love the freedom of expression it gives me,” says Patten who plans to study mechanical or aerospace engineering in college. “It never fails to make me forget all my problems or troubling thoughts I could have and forces me to solely pay attention to the thing I’m creating at that moment.”
The annual Western Art Contest is open to high school students in 183 eligible school districts and 54 counties with 12 scholarships awarded to the Champion in each class/category totaling $125,000.
The subject matter for all entries must be Western Art and represent the heritage, lifestyle and landscapes of the American West, both historical and present day.
Other Comal ISD students who entered the contest include the following artists.
Canyon High School
- Art teachers Kristopher Jorgensen, Catherine Deatherage, Joy Hill and Holly Spandau
- Kaitlyn Drew, oil/ acrylic, third place
Canyon Lake High School
- Art teachers Nell Anderson and Kara Stracener
- Camila Acosta, colored pencils, participation
- Chiann Farley, watercolor mixed media of a chicken, third place
- Sophia Leone, clay sculpture of bull and barrel, second place
- Nick Masters, pastels, participation
- Kevin Mendoza, clay, resin, paper flowers, and wooden base sculpture of calf and rooster, first place
- Sophia Soranno, pen and ink of donkeys, first place and top 25
- Faith Reese, wood burning image of birds, second place
- Randie Selzer, pen and ink of a mother turkey and her babies, second place
Davenport High School
- Art teachers Mark Harrison and Jennifer Walden
- Aubrey Fallon, "Kronk," graphite (cow), third place
- Zoe Harrison, "Bucking," metal, wood, third place
- Tristyn Riedel, "Precious," acrylic, participation
- Isabel Templeman, "Barn of Cats," colored pencils, third place
Hill Country College Preparatory High School
- Art teacher Natalie Jones
- Emerson Fite, “Life in Death,” 3D other medium of a beetle, third place
- Madeleine Patten, “Ironclad Hooves,” 3D other medium of bucking horse, Champion
- Sasha Williams, “Yee Haw” 2D mixed acrylic painting of horse and rider, third place
Smithson Valley High School
- Art teacher Lizette Floyd
- Emily Ingram, drawing/graphite category of barrel racer, first place and top 25
Congratulations!
-Madeleine ‘Madz’ Patten won the Champion in Sculpture category for the 2024 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Western Art Contest.
-Two Comal ISD students were among the Top 25 finalists of the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Western Art Contest. Pictured top row from left is Sophia Soranno from Canyon Lake High School and Emily Ingram from Smithson Valley High School. Pictured on the bottom row from left is Soranno’s artwork and Ingram’s artwork.
-Canyon High School student Kevin Mendoza received a first-place honor at the 2024 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Western Art Contest for his mixed media sculpture.
-Comal ISD had three students receive second-place honors at the 2024 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Western Art Contest. Pictured on top is the entry for Randie Selzer from Canyon Lake High School; bottom row from left is a piece by Sophia Leone from CLHS and Faith Reese from CLHS.
-Comal ISD had seven students receive third-place honors at the 2024 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Western Art Contest. Pictured top row from left is Emerson Fite from Hill Country College Preparatory High School, Sasha Williams from HCCPHS, Aubrey Fallon from Davenport High School and Isabel Templeman from DHS; bottom row from left is a piece by Kaitlyn Drew from Canyon High School, a piece by Chiann Farley from Canyon Lake High School and Zoe Harrison from DHS.
-Comal ISD had three students receive participation honors at the 2024 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Western Art Contest. Pictured on top is Tristyn Riedel from Davenport High School; bottom row from left is a piece by Nick Masters from Canyon Lake High School and Camila Acosta from CLHS.
Read more Comal ISD news here.