CV art students hope to tie up $50,000 grant

Students at Central Valley High School are competing for a $50,000 grant by painting sneakers.

The Central Valley art students are the only group from a Washington school that has made it to the final 50 in the national Vans Custom Culture Contest, and for the Spokane Valley students to win they need as many online votes as possible.

Freshman Abby Allen, 14, said her sneaker design is inspired by music.

“It starts at a music file on one side and goes into the headphones and the woman is singing along,” Allen said.

She found inspiration for her design on Tumblr and other social media sites.

Juan Diaz, 16, painted a surfing-inspired design, though he doesn’t surf.

“It just kind of sprouted, I guess,” said Diaz, a sophomore.

The sneaker company Vans sends white shoes to schools that want to participate in the contest, but the decorations are entirely up to the students.

Art teacher Kyle Genther said some of the designs submitted to the contest aren’t wearable.

“That’s not a requirement. Some of the shoes are very sculptural,” Genther said.

It’s the second year that Genther’s students have entered the contest, and the first time they’ve made it to the top 50.

“We are the only Washington school to make it so I feel like you can vote for us no matter where in Spokane you went to school,” Genther said.

If Central Valley wins the grant, it will go toward art programs at the school.

Jaiden Haley, Jenna Ferreira and Lela Cooper also participated in the project.

Diaz and Allen said they never painted a sneaker before.

“I would like more funding for digital art,” Allen said. Her dream is to work for Pixar, the animation studio behind movies like “Cars” and “Inside Out.”

“That’s one reason why we need funding for arts,” Genther said. “So students like Abby can pursue a dream to work for Pixar.”