By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Out of hundreds of pieces of artwork submitted to the “I Love My County” art competition presented by the Kentucky Association of Counties, Barren County Middle School eighth grader Marley Redford’s was the winner.
“It felt really good to win,” Redford said. “Especially because I knew hundreds of people were entering… I didn’t really expect [to win] but we were on our way back home and we got a call from the Kentucky Association of Counties that said I won first place and I was completely in shock.”
“At first I thought I misheard her,” she added.
According to Sarah Vetter, art teacher at the middle school, for this competition people had to create a piece of art that “represented ” their county. She said some did family farms while others did chicken coops or murals. In her first-place pencil submission, Redford drew a picture of the Barren County Courthouse.
“The students were supposed to think of a place that represented why they loved their county,” Vetter said. “That was a hard question for some of them…I think Marley did a great job at picking something that represents Barren County.”
“I really liked the theme of this. I think it’s important for students to grow to love where they live…encouraging them to think of that is something that I thought was a neat aspect of this,” Vetter added.
For winning the competition Redford will receive $250, a certificate, have her artwork featured in the KACo magazine, “The County Line,” and be featured in the association’s annual calendar. She will also be honored at the November fiscal court and at the “President’s Reception and Banquet during the 2023 KACo Conference,” which is from Nov. 15-17 in Lexington.
Redford said she did not enter expecting to win, especially after seeing a few of the other pieces submitted by Vetter, and is still “in shock” at getting to represent her county in this way. She said she originally struggled to find the right subject with her other idea being to draw the Glasgow mural, but finished the drawing in roughly four days once she settled on the courthouse, working both in class and at home.
“It took me a little while to come up with an idea,” Radford said. “But once I did it was smooth sailing.”
Winning an art competition is nothing new to Redford as she won the most in-person votes at the Mary Wood Weldon Memorial Library “Art Attack” back in August of this year.
She said art, and more broadly the artistic field, has always been something she has done, eventually opening up her own small business, in which she teaches art classes and makes jewelry.
“I like art because it’s something that if you mess up you can always cover up,” Redford said. “It’s something you can’t really mess up because everything is art.”
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