Rodeo art, one of Houston’s most important art events, is taking hold in the school’s art classes. Impressive art pieces modeled after rodeo subjects are being made to enter into competition.
“Rodeo art is a project we [art students] do every year…It’s in the KatyISD school district that’s about Texas things,” painting student Leah Caudron Torres explained.
This art unit is a tradition for many schools in the Houston area, but not all of the art pieces look the same. With all the different art mediums to use, there are a multitude of ways to create rodeo art.
“The process of rodeo art really depends on the project you’re doing, ” Torres said. “For example, if you’re doing painting [rather than] Prismacolors; if you’re doing Prismacolors, you would use colored pencils.”
Starting from elementary school, art students are tasked with rodeo art. As art students get older, the expectations for their art quality become higher. Though this may seem stressful, many art students want to participate in rodeo art nonetheless, because it can help them along if they pursue an art career in the future.
“[Rodeo art] is a good opportunity to have ‘cause you get to compete. So, it can be really good when we apply for colleges…as some of our experiences,” Torres said.
This unit can be a great academic achievement, but it also serves as a good personal motivator. Art students find joy in their work and improve their technique throughout this unit.
“My favorite part of my painting so far is the…right side of my goat ‘cause I think its eye looks really realistic,” Torres said when asked about her rodeo art.
On the other hand, rodeo art can also be a difficult and daunting task. Many artists get burnt out from focusing on details too much or get hung up on specific parts of their project. Torres offered insight to the difficulties she has to face in her art piece.
“[I’m having difficulty on] The left side of the goat’s face ‘cause I had to make it darker and it’s really stressful to redo that part.” Torres also agreed that color-matching, (the process of mixing colors that’re accurate to the reference) is a strenuous part of rodeo art.
Furthermore, rodeo art can have strict guidelines: reference photos used for the project must be taken by the artist or by their art teacher. Copyrighted words/logos can’t be included in the art pieces either. Perhaps the most important requirement though, is the amount of hyper-realism it requires.
“ I did not add personal flair to my project, ‘cause I wanted to keep it as realistic as possible,” Torres said when asked about personalized touches added to her rodeo art.
As Torres said, “Like roller-coasters, art is a whole adventure with ups and downs”, and no project symbolizes this message quite as perfectly as rodeo art. The process may be hard, but to Houston art students of various ages, the end-result is worth it.
