by John Dowd
A Hamilton business, that hails from Texas, has been working to encourage a love of art in young people in the valley. To do this, they have created a county-wide contest, showcasing the participant’s love of art, and the Bitterroot’s love of the state.
ATR Smart Procedures is a software design company, now based in Hamilton. However, after moving to Montana, the organization owners and team have fallen in love with the state and the people. One of the ways they have been showing that love has been through their art contest. The idea came from a similar art contest they held in Houston, Texas right after the events of September 11, 2001.
ATR wanted to find a way to feature the beauty of the state and to give back to the community, and thought their once successful art contest was the way to go. According to organizers Elliott Lander, managing director of ATR, and art contest lead coordinator, Tamar Hafer, the reception has been incredible.
When speaking about the contest in the Bitterroot, Lander said, “All of them have had some sort of Montana theme to them.” Some previous years have included themes such as old barns, cowboys, famous artists with a Montana flavor and more. This year the theme is pre-statehood, or pre-1889, and the contest is still looking for participants. Participants must be high school students, 9th to 12th grades.
Corvallis and Florence schools have been the most active, though all schools in the valley are welcome to participate. Some of the schools even include the contest in their curriculum.
According to the contest organizers, last year there were over 210 entries, and this year there could be even more, with full participation from all the high schools in the valley. These also include Trapper Creek Job Corps and many homeschoolers. “I was astonished, last year, to have that much participation,” said Lander.
“We never know what to expect,” said Hafer, saying that art entries come in all forms.
This will be the ninth year they have held the contest, and each year ATR donates thousands in prizes. This year, they will be giving away around $4,700 in prizes. This includes prizes to the schools of the winners, which take the form of grant money for art supplies. According to Hafer, this gives the schools funding to allow students a chance to try different mediums, some of these possibly including expensive materials such as for sculpting.
There are several categories for participants to win in, and for each one, the first place winners will receive $500, second place winners will receive $300, third place winners will receive $150 and fourth place winners will receive $100. These categories include drawing, painting and sculpture.
There is also an opportunity to win best of show, earning $150, and the President’s Award for $200, where Lander and his wife, owners of the company, pick their favorite overall. The schools of winners will receive $500 for first place, $350 for second place, $250 for third place and $100 for fourth place.
When speaking about the award money, Hafer said that it is by design. According to Hafer, “It makes them feel that their art has worth.”
Participants are also required to write an artist’s statement, and Hafer says there is a high level of expectation. The participants “need to be able to verbally articulate what their art is,” said Hafer.
At the award ceremony, to be held on April 11, top participants may be asked to speak about their work. The contest has also teamed up with Explore the Arts, In Hamilton, and Culture Crawl. According to Hafer, Barbara Liss, with Explore the Arts, has helped the contest throughout the years in a big way. Sticking with those high expectations, Liss gathers judges from around the county, all of whom are artists with a great depth of art experience. This is essential, as the spirit of the contest is not only to get young people to pursue art, but to do so in a professional way while showing youth what it takes and that it is still within their reach. The judging can take a long time, stated Hafer, and the process can be very thorough. The winning pieces will be displayed at Explore the Arts during the Culture Crawl event.
ATR will have an open house to show off and even possibly sell some of the other pieces that do not quite make first place. Participating youth can choose what price to sell the pieces at, sometimes giving outrageous figures for fun. Every year, ATR keeps and displays all the first place winners.
For Lander, the event has always been close to his heart, and he loves seeing the impressive things participants can come up with. “It’s exciting to see the creativity of the kids,” said Lander. The contest came from the ashes of 9/11. According to Lander, they decided they wanted to do something to recognize the sacrifices of the first responders that were there, at ground zero. The contest was called “Hope and Heroes” and drew youth participants from all over Texas to create art honoring the heroes of that catastrophic day for the nation. The contest was held within a year of the 9/11 event, and even took the winners to visit New York City, where it happened.
Since the company is a software designer that specializes in smart digital procedures systems, ATR donated software to the New York Fire Department. The software was then utilized in training responders. ATR works with companies all around the world, mostly oil, power and chemical companies. Their software is designed to work on a large scale, with lots of variables.
According to Lander, after Sept. 11, they saw the need in the fire department, and offered their services. Post-9/11, the fire department needed to update their training procedures, and was even on a hiring hold. The software allowed the department to become more efficient and to keep track of their over 25,000 responders throughout over 300 stations. According to Hafer, after 9/11 the departments had a “new awareness of the safety of those on the ground.”
For Hafer, who was once involved with the Ravalli County Museum, the art contest in the Bitterroot is “motivation to young people to get out of their comfort zones.” According to ATR’s executive assistant, Sue Jevning, “These young people have great talent and we can’t wait to showcase them.”
So far, the program has donated over $26,000 to young artists in the valley. For young people interested in participating, the entry deadline is March 29, and no late entries will be accepted. For more information, and a copy of the entry form, interested parties are encouraged to contact Hafer at tamar@tazenda.net. These forms can be mailed or hand delivered to ATR Inc., 248 W. Main Street, Hamilton MT 59840.