School sponsors contest for theater cornerstone piece

To honor its history and mark its future, Boulder City High School is hosting an art competition to design a cornerstone piece for its new theater.

“In the architect’s initial drawings of the theater, an art deco piece was included on the front of the theater complex,” said Principal Amy Wagner. “During meetings, our architecture firm, S &H Architecture, asked me what type of deco piece I wanted on the front of the theater. We discussed several design ideas with them mostly revolving around our school mascot, the eagle, in natural surroundings. I wanted to involve the community in this design process as much as possible, so I designed a competition to capture the spirit and preserve the history of Boulder City High School.”

The competition is to design a large modern or art deco frieze, which will be installed on the facade of the new theater complex. A frieze is a broad horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration.

The dimensions for this piece is 12 feet by 32.8 feet. It will be divided into pieces 4 feet by 5 feet and should be inspired by the history of the school, construction of the Hoover Dam and must include the school mascot, which is an eagle.

“My hope is that this art deco design captures the spirit of our school and town and becomes an iconic element of our campus that embraces our history,” Wagner said.

The competition is open to anyone in the community, including individual and groups. Only only entry per artist is allowed.

For anyone interested in participating, packets are available at the front office of the high school or on its website at www.bouldercityhighschool.com. Entries are due by Aug. 1 and will be judged on community significance, historic school relevance, best use of the mascot, best background design, and best understanding of the art deco or modern style.

Judging will take place on Aug. 7 and will be done by a five-person panel, selected by the Clark County School District. The winner will be announced Aug. 11.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.