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Denton given Best of Show in Student Kaleidoscope Art Competition

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Dacy Denton is a lifelong Fallbrook resident who took art classes at Sullivan Middle School and at Fallbrook High School as a freshman. When the Fallbrook Union High School District opted against in-class instruction for 2020-21, Denton transferred to Calvin Christian School in Escondido, where she is now a junior. On April 9, Denton's acrylic painting "The Hunt" was announced as Best of Show at the Escondido Art Association's Student Kaleidoscope Art Competition.

"I was really happy about that," Denton said.

The Hunt, which is acrylic on canvas, is of a dinosaur chasing a crane. "It wasn't off of a picture. It was just kind of a landscape that I made up in my head and I just kind of pieced it together," Denton said.

Denton had been informally painting prior to taking a Sullivan art class taught by Melissa Ledri and began painting seriously after her middle school art classes. "I really got into painting when I was in middle school when I had kind of the influence of my teacher," Denton said.

This academic year, Denton is in the Advanced Painting class taught by Calvin Christian art instructor Ron Vanderpol. The Hunt is on an 18-inch by 24-inch canvas. The dinosaur chasing the crane is an albertosaurus.

"I just really love dinosaurs, and I felt like the painting was really good on its own without the dinosaur in it, but at that point it would be just like any other landscape painting," Denton said.

The painting also includes rocks and water. "He is running in a creek or a river bed," Denton said. "It's surrounded by a bunch of trees."

Denton began work on the painting in early November, and it was completed in early December. Although the class length of her art class is 45 minutes, the time needed each day to gather the supplies and to clean up limits actual painting to 30 to 35 minutes. "You have to work on little pieces at a time," Denton said. "It felt like it took forever."

"The Hunt" made its public debut at a school exhibition in December. "It was kind of like a qualifying step to get into the actual art show itself," Denton said.

"My painting was one of the pieces that moved forward into the actual art show," Denton said. "I was excited. I put a lot of work into the painting and I was very excited to see that that hard work was paying off."

The Student Kaleidoscope Art Competition was a one-day exhibition April 9 at the Escondido Center for the Arts. Denton was told April 5 that "The Hunt" had received Best of Show. "The voting had already been done," Denton said.

Vanderpol informed Denton of her award. "I came to school and my teacher came up to me and said 'congratulations,'" Denton said. "I was surprised, but I wasn't surprised at the same time."

Denton noted the benefit of the in-class instruction at Calvin Christian. "That one-on-one really helped me," she said.

The 2021-22 school year is Denton's first with oil paintings. She has also taken a ceramics class and has decorated a terrarium for the four reptiles she owns. "I've painted pretty much everything," she said.

"I'm just glad that I've been able to take art classes," Denton said. "It's just been a great experience."

For Denton, her Best of Show award showcases art instruction as well as herself. "I want people to see my ability, but at the same time I want to encourage people to pursue art if they want to," she said.

 

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