Peace Hills contestant wins on his first try

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It's not often that an art piece not fashioned from canvas, paper or pressed cardboard ever gets selected as the winning entry of an art contest, but that is precisely what happened at this year's annual Peace Hills Trust Annual Art Contest.

In this, its 16th year, judges selected a contemporary entry crafted by Saskatchewan contestant Calvin Sand. The 49-year-old Cree from the Mistawasis First Nation had to admit he was "surprised and overwhelmed" by his good fortune. "I didn't expect to win. I just wanted to show it."

To add to the emotion of winning was the fact that this was the first time he had ever entered the competition. Sand has completed three years, with one to go, toward obtaining his Bachelor of Indian Fine Arts degree with a major in art and minor in Cree language.

The first place artwork entitled, They Follow Each Other, portrays an Indian face with a soaring eagle in the foreground. All this done with oil-pastels covered over with polymer, a high-gloss veneer that is epoxy-like. The medium, said Sand, was "something new" and different from the usual entries, but he wanted to give it a try having experimented a bit with it over the last two years. He went on to explain that he normally works with canvas and oil.

Joseph Sagaj from Fort Hope, Ont., who now calls Wetaskiwin home, took second in the contest. Brian Cardinal, originally of Saddle Lake and now living in Nanaimo, B.C., took third with a black and white fine-line pencil drawing of the head and shoulders of an elderly Indian woman. Honorable mentions were garnered by Vancouver's Keith Brown and John Alexander Williams from Sarnia, Ont.

In the teen category, 14 to 17, it proved a clean sweep with all four winners from Wikwemikong, Ont. The winners were Crystal Nicole Simon, Clifton George and Michael Maiangowi with an honorable mention given to Alicia Mandamin,

The category for 10 to 13 year olds was won by Herman McKay of Scanterbury, Man. Second place went to Matthew James from Agassiz, B.C. and Sheldon Tuesday of Morson, Ont.

In the nine and under category, David Scanie of Anzac walked off with the win. He was followed by Marjolaine Desormeaux Dominique of Quebec and Justin Darrow of Kanesatake, Que.

Corporate and marketing administrator Suzanne Lyrintzis stated she was somewhat surprised with the high number of entries this year from the Ontario and Quebec region.