Having learned to believe in herself and not give up, Jacklyn Vicars wants to pass that message on to others.
Vicars is the winner of the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center’s window art contest.
Her work is a digital art piece that’s representative of West Texas with a pump jack, a full moon and a wild looking sky.
An art major at University of Texas Permian Basin, Vicars said she decided to enter the contest because “$100 sounded really nice.”
“College is expensive. I work summers so whatever I save up goes toward it,” Vicars said.
She added that she kept getting emails about the contest. Putting her art out there was a big deal to Vicars. She said she has about 2,000 pieces that no one has seen. “I don’t think I’m worth it. That’s the truth,” she said. “To me they’re just random doodles.”
She found out she’d won the window art contest when someone came into her classroom at the Charles A. Sorber Visual Arts Studios with only the back of the framed work showing.
“I told myself there was no way,” Vicars said.
She recognized a corner piece of it, but still thought it had to be a joke or a prank.
“There are so many great artists here in Odessa that are known for their murals and little old me who joined,” Vicars said.
She had six other versions of the piece.
In addition to digital, she does traditional, scratch art, “whatever I can get my hands on.”
Vicars was born and raised in Gardendale and has two brothers and one sister.
She said winning the window art contest gave her a sign. She had been asking God if she was on the right path.
“This was a big slap in the face to tell me you are on the right path and believe in yourself,” Vicars said.
For college, she was awarded chances to go to other colleges, but she chose UTPB.
“I’ve learned a lot and I’m doing stuff I didn’t think I could do,” Vicars said.
The idea of having her piece displayed on a large scale still feels like a dream to her.
She saw the runner-up works and thought they were beautiful and she was doodling on her iPad.
Asked if she wanted to add anything, Vicars said, “Always believe in yourself. Anything can happen. … Life is very unexpected.”
UTPB Associate Professor of Art Chris Stanley is one of Vicars’ instructors.
“I am grateful to the WNPAC for engaging the community in the idea of artistic competition. The spirit of competition is grounded in the way we train our students. The road to becoming an artist is challenging. There are way more potholes and hurdles than one would expect. Perseverance is the key. I was overjoyed to see that Ms. Vicars had won the contest. She is setting a high bar for her peers to reach,” Stanley said.
With the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center being part of UT Permian Basin they are excited to feature a College of Arts and Sciences student.
“Her artwork will be featured on a section of windows for six months. The artwork is currently being digitized and sized for the window. We look forward to an unveiling in the coming weeks,” WNPAC Marketing Manager Sydney Gore said in a statement.
The Wagner Noël is now working with a local company to digitize the artwork and it will be printed as a window wrap.
“There will not be actual paint. Once the window wrap is up, we will have an unveiling,” Gore said.
