By CATHERINE ELLERTON
Moapa Valley Progress
Each year, the Fine Arts Building at the Clark County Fair houses the creative talents and inspiration of Clark County residents. On display this year was a variety of items including paintings, photography, the culinary arts, sewing, scientific studies and more.
There were many works of art on display. The Best of Show watercolor on paper depicting a race horse entitled “Engine No. 9” by Sandra Swan of Las Vegas immersed the viewer in the event created in that moment.
There were also scores of photographs entered in the exhibit. These entries included self-portraits, pictures of friends and family and pets to places one has visited.
A smorgasbord of delicacies tempted the viewer in the culinary arts category. From Easter cupcakes to turtle cookies, Pineapple Haberno Jam, Pink Champagne Cake. A clever award-winning Steampunk Daze cake was created by Annetta Romero.
Next came the intricate sewing and pattern in the award-winning quilt by Teresa Blackburn (Judges Choice-Adult; Champion; Best of Show and Best of Class).
There was also a cleverly colored chair, ‘Just Chill’, painted in a winter theme, which was another Best of Show award winner for Lee Ann Parkin of Henderson.
It took some time to get through all the marvelous sewing exhibits. There were pillows and purses, toys, costumes, bags and clothing, knitting, quilting and crotchet work.
One of my favorite areas is the Science Experiments! How do these young folks come up with and develop these ideas? There were so many unique projects exploring an array of topics. For example, ‘What dog food do dogs prefer?’ by Rylee Johnson. Lucas Staton questioned ‘What beverage stains teeth the most?’ (coffee, grape juice, red wine and cola were some of the choices). Allie Bledsoe explored the theory of ‘Do the words we say and our environment really make a difference in creating the bullying attitude?’ She used rice in jars, one placed in a window and good words spoken to it and the other placed in a closet and bad words and attitude uttered at it. One jar’s content continued to glow white while the other turned brown.
Two marvelous modern art sculptures were found in the Industrial Arts section. Aaron and Kael Freeman melted powdered aluminum, poured it down an ant hole (Fire and Harvester Ants), let it harden and then dug it up. The modern sculpture was the replica of the ant colony!
On the other side of the building was the Horticulture exhibit. This year’s exhibit featured the many options available for container gardens. Perhaps one doesn’t have garden space, but he/she has an old kitchen sink as shown by Billy Zielinski; or perhaps just a child’s coveralls as demonstrated by Ollie Anna Wadley, age 11, of the Sandy Valley 4-H Club. Wadley’s ‘Flower Child’ ingenuity won her a Judges Choice-Youth Award.
The colorful, imaginative exhibits held in this building were an inspiration. But it was time to move on – especially when the award winning Valencia Oranges (Best of Show, Champion and Best of Class) raised by Christine Trombley of Overton reminded one that it was time for a Texas Twister.
