Willow family dominates rural art competition

PALMER — One Willow family put its artistic talents to work, and the result was five awards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development.

Tasha Hodson won a first-place award for her sketch of a wolf and a mountain, and she added a third-place award in the poetry division. Jesse Hodson and Kiana Hodson both had third-place finishes in the art division, and Kiana added a third-place finish in the poetry division as well.

The art and poetry contest is part of a larger program for USDA-Rural Development.

Open to all students in rural areas, the contest centered around the theme of community and the rural way of life in Alaska, and the winners are being used to illustrate materials in the Community Plan Guide and Form/Community Toolbox, which is being established by USDA-RD, the Alaska Humanities Forum, the Denali Commission and other community organizations.

"The toolbox is a creative thing for communities to use to direct their future plans," said Dr. Sheila Selkregg, state director of USDA-RD. "The first documents the art winners will be used for is a community planning template."

More than 250 pieces of art were received, as well as more than 100 poems. Some students focused on the subsistence way of life, while others focused more toward what they like to see in their communities.

"All of the art showed a great appreciation for elders and a great relationship between people and their communities," Selkregg said. "The poetry explained a wonderful and almost fanciful view of the writer's surroundings. The students were amazing."

The contest also gives people the chance to see rural Alaska from another vantage point.

"Art is such a different voice than a television camera or other forms of media," Selkregg said. "We see a snippet of footage on television, and that is the view of rural Alaska. By looking at the art and the poetry, we see the full story. It is very real.

"It is important to realize that the students who participated in the contest looked long and hard at their communities, and they will be the community leaders in 10 years or so," Selkregg said. "I was impressed with the views the students have of their communities, and what they would like to see done in the future."

The Hodsons were the only family to win awards in the contest.

"They are a very artistic family," said Heather Bovat of USDA-RD. "They did a fantastic job."