FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) – Talent and community support have once again secured a win for a young Flagstaff graphic designer.
Alyssa Williams, 17, a senior at Flagstaff High School, will soon see her winning design on the move – on Arizona veteran special license plates.
“If it’s on a car and they travel, people will see it from all over the nation. I think that’s pretty crazy, just to imagine the people who will see my design,” Williams told the Arizona Daily Sun.
The Code Talker Seal Design Contest, an online competition hosted by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Office on Tribal Relations, asked Native American students to create a design to reflect the contributions made by Code Talkers from various tribal nations. The winner would be made into a license plate seal.
The license plate that will contain the Code Talker seal is one of seven veteran special license plates approved last year in an Arizona House bill to recognize veterans for their service in overseas conflicts.
Five student-created designs were selected by a committee and opened up to a public vote. Williams’ design – a uniformed Navajo Nation Code Talker in front of the silhouette of Monument Valley – won with 61% of more than 20,000 votes.
“The Code Talkers fought for our freedom, so now I can repay them by doing what I do best: freely creating art,” Williams said. “I wanted to make something to thank our nation’s heroes for their sacrifices. I wanted to return the favor.”
Last year, another of Williams’ designs – with help from community voters -- helped Flagstaff High win the nationwide Vans Custom Culture contest’s $75,000 grand prize for the school’s arts programs. It was the first year the school was able to compete in the contest and the first Arizona win for the decade-old contest in which students decorate two pairs of white Vans shoes to represent “Local Flavor” and “Off The Wall” styles.
Williams tackled local character with features such as aspen trees and Native American pottery designs, while classmate Nicole Dougherty focused on vibrant patterns and characters and mounted the shoes to roller skate plates for an “Off The Wall” look.
Beyond the Vans contest, Williams has also won a regional graphic design competition and a local contest for a new truck design.
She said she was pleased to be able to use her digital art for the Code Talker contest. For the Vans contest, she was required to draw and paint on the shoe.
“I like both of them, but digital art is more cool,” she said. “There’s so many things you can do with digital art. You just don’t get the same stuff out of drawing and painting on paper.”
Just days before the submission due date, Williams’ dad discovered the contest and recommended she apply. Williams began researching Navajo Code Talkers and was inspired by online photos of a particular statue: the Navajo Code Talkers Veterans Memorial in Window Rock.
In addition to writing an accompanying essay, she spent about four hours creating the seal, drawing on her tablet starting with her focal point and then filling in around it, as she does with all her designs.
“Even from her first year with me, she has this incredible eye for detail and composition. She doesn’t gloss over anything,” said Flagstaff High graphic design teacher Kayley Quick. “It’s just super inspiring to see her work, getting to see what she does. As a young person, it’s nice to see her transitioning into adulthood, and, much like many of my students, what they’re going to bring to our society. I’m seeing it all the time at school. It’s just awesome.”
Williams said the contest would have been impossible to win by herself.
“I just want to say thank you to everybody. It was all of you who helped me make this win possible. Every like and share and vote, it got me closer to winning and I really appreciate all of you for that,” she said. “Thank you for believing in me and believing in my design. You all make my job really easy and it makes me that much more passionate about what I do.”
Williams said she plans to study graphic design after graduating from high school and maybe someday make it into her own business. She has already created business pages for “Alyssa Williams Design” on Facebook and Instagram so she can start sharing her visual creations with a larger audience.
"seal" - Google News
September 01, 2020 at 01:33AM
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Student designer’s Code Talker seal to adorn license plates - The Durango Herald
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