Three local high school students will have their artwork displayed at the Bastrop County International Women’s Day celebration this Saturday in Bastrop.

Sarah Solomon, Johnathon Wenske and Kali Reed won first, second and third place for the Bastrop County IWD art contest, which awards cash prizes to any person working toward their high school diploma, helps educate the next generation in women’s issues and celebrates the women of Bastrop County.

According to MaryBeth Gradziel, who has been involved with Bastrop County IWD since it started 10 years ago, the celebration features several talented, interesting and articulate women of the county.

“The year before it started, a couple of our members – Linda Lesso and Carrie Knox – were at the celebration in Austin and asked themselves why they had to travel so far to celebrate International Women’s Day,” Gradziel said. “They started the celebration in Bastrop in 2000 and have rotated throughout the three cities in Bastrop County (Bastrop, Elgin and Smithville) each year since.”

Throughout the years, the festival has grown and changed, but the theme has always remained the same – a celebration that honors women and allows the county to experience its vibrant and diverse community, she said.

Gradziel said that when trying to choose the winners of the art contest, Bastrop County IWD looked at certain criteria.

“There are criteria that are sent out to each person entering into the contest,” she said. “Each year, there is a theme that needs to be followed, there is a deadline and it all needs to be done by a Bastrop County high school student.”

Sarah Solomon, a senior from Smithville High School, won first place overall with her depiction of the contest theme, “Women creating positive steps connecting the past and future.”

Sarah said that she found out about the contest in her art class.

“Everyone in class worked on something for the contest,” she said. “The theme had to do with creating positive steps with circles, so I decided to connect the past and future through a time warp made out of circles.”

According to Sarah, there is a woman going into the time warp in her piece, creating footsteps through time. The circles get smaller and smaller as time goes by, like an optical illusion, she said.

Sarah is the daughter of Mollye and Robin Solomon and plans on attending Florida College (where she has already been accepted) to major in theatre and possibly receive a minor in both art and teaching.

“I really want to be an actress, but if that doesn’t work, then a cartoonist or an art or theatre teacher,” she said.

As the first place winner, her art will be featured on the Bastrop County IWD T-shirts, tote bags and bandanas for sale at the celebration. Solomon will also receive a cash prize, roses and a T-shirt, and her art will be framed and on display at the event.

Taking home the second place award is Johnathon Wenske, a junior at Bastrop High School and the son of Phillip and Theresa.

Johnathon also learned of the contest in art class, saying that he did not get a chance to enter into it last year and he thought it would be a good opportunity to get his art out.

“I first started with the Virgin Mary and put a circle around her head because of the theme of circles with positive steps,” Johnathon said. “I made the steps she walked on yellow because it’s a positive color, and I also included the woman’s symbol, which is a circle and a cross.”

He said he would like to attend either the University of North Texas or Texas A&M Corpus Christi to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts as an art teacher.

“It seems like they both have pretty good art programs, so I think they are good choices” he said.

Johnathon will receive a cash prize, roses and a T-shirt as the second place winner.

Lastly, Kali Reed, a SHS senior and the daughter of James and Renee, took third place and said she too participated in the contest because of her art class.

“It took me a while to think about what I was going to do,” Kali said. “I was looking at stuff, knowing that I had to connect the circles in the theme in some way. That’s how I came up with a chain.”

Kali said she either wants to attend the University of North Texas or Texas State University – San Marcos to receive a degree in fashion.

Like Johnathon, Kali will receive a cash prize, roses and a T-shirt as the third place winner.

Gradziel said that this year’s Bastrop County IWD celebration will begin at 11 a.m. with the reading of the proclamation at the Bastrop County Courthouse.

“Then, everyone participating – families, dogs, horses – will march around the courthouse over to the Ascension Catholic Church for the rest of the celebration,” she said.

According to Gradziel, at the church, there will be a pot luck lunch, piano music and featured speakers. The contest winners will be awarded at the end.

“We encourage women to bring their own work for display at the celebration,” Gradziel said.

In previous years, she said women have brought quilts, pine needle baskets, clothing, puppets, dolls and even Christmas stockings.

“This year, like every year, I would like to see acknowledgement of what women have been doing and what they have accomplished,” Gradziel said.