Gallery • 6 Photos

Photo by Madision Heggins

Shoes designed by art teacher Shanna Blair's fall semester students.

Scrunched eyebrows, squinted eyes, a look of pure concentration etched on each face. Fingers stained with paint, as murky paint water resembling a piece of art on its own swirls in each cup, getting darker and darker as a brushes are dipped into them again and again.

In each hand, a shoe is held. Some painted, others barely being sketched on but each holds a promise. A promise of freedom, of creativity, of self-expression.

The idea of shoes being used as canvases has been around since the teen rebellions of the 1960s when canvas shoes first came out, and has come back in popularity the last couple of years.  For the past five years Vans has even sponsored “Vans Culture,” a nationwide shoe art competition for high school students.

Art teacher Shanna Blair first assigned this shoe project last semester when she saw how popular shoe art seemed to be, and noticed that the kids seemed to like it.

“I think they enjoy it because it’s an non-traditional surface to paint on,” Blair said. “And they like the idea that they can make it their own and possibly even wear the shoes or sell the shoes.”

To Blair, art means originality and creativity. She says she thinks her students feel the same.

“There are no boundaries,” Blair said. “They can be as creative and as expressive as they want. Not like any other subject matter structure.”

Junior Sage Whitaker painted on her shoes the theme of the popular tumblr poem which says the “sun loved the moon so much he died everyday to let her breathe.”

“I like painting,” Whitaker said. “I like art in general. It makes us see [the art] the way you see it.”

Junior Maydee Love painted a space theme, wanting to “make it more animated”, while her fellow classmate, junior Morrigan McVeigh, was inspired by her favorite film.

“I’m going for a more ‘Alice in Wonderland’ look,” She said.”A garden and real earthy feel I guess because it’s my favorite movie and I guess that’s just my style.”

Senior Kayla Doran was influenced by her favorite artist Van Gogh’s flower paintings to recreate a scene like that on her shoes.

“It’s a way that you can do what you want to do,” Doran said when asked about her thoughts on art. “And use your type of style, and detail, and everything. It’s a way to express yourself.”