Wheaton students’ shoe designs in national contest

Wheaton Academy advanced graphic design students are in the semifinals of the 2013 Vans Custom Culture shoe design contest.

This year’s top 50 were selected by Vans from nearly 1,500 schools nationally and are now in the online voting phase to determine the five finalists. Online voting at vans.com ends Monday, May 13.

Wheaton Academy is one of 10 schools representing the Northeast region. Online voting will determine a regional winner from each of five regions. The five regional winners will send students and shoes to New York City this summer to compete for a $50,000 grand prize, as well as a $10,000 prize sponsored by Journeys. All cash awards support visual art programs at the winning high schools. The winning shoe designs also may be produced and sold by Vans.

The Custom Culture contest is in its fourth year and was created to support high school art programs while celebrating local culture across the country. Schools submit photographs of actual shoes that they have designed in four categories: art, music, local flavor and board sports. Shoes are judged as a complete group.

Wheaton Academy students worked for seven weeks designing shoes that reflect local themes and an overall theme of transformation. They began with sketches and templates, then moved to actual shoes that were sent from Vans in late February. They studied real world graphic design, working with business students who critiqued and played “client” for presentations.

Shoe themes include a digital Chicago hot dog, graffiti-painted trains, local skateboarders and a Chicago blues tornado. The shoes have original student drawings, paintings and photographs.