The Houston Rodeo season has just kicked off!

For me, however, the rodeo season kicks off around Christmas. My mother and I have been volunteering for the HLSR School Art committee since 2010. We’ve worked a couple of different jobs within the committee, but I think the job we currently have is one of my favorites.

This was a picture I sent my son because we were not going to be able to make it to his school for his presentation. We were still working at the Rodeo that day.

 

Within the School Art committee, there are several smaller committees. Each one has a specific job from educating the school representatives on the rules to judging the art and returning it to the schools at the end of the season. My mother and I are a part of the committee charged to handle the art once it is judged.

Each school district has a cubby with their name on it. Once the art is judged, all of the art that is chosen to be displayed is placed in those cubby’s as a holding place until they are displayed in the cases along the inside hall of the NRG arena. All of the judged art is then displayed for a second round of judging. This is the process of selecting the Grand Champion, Reserve Champion and all of the other champion & auction pieces. All of this takes place between January and February.

 

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In late February (usually the same day as opening for the cook-off) we clean the display cases and hang art. The process usually takes all day with 2 shifts for volunteers. This year, we had over 300 pieces of art to display. Fourteen 2D pieces are displayed in the big case. Those pieces are the Grand Champion, Grand Champion Reserve and champions and reserve champions in specific categories like colored pencil and mixed medium. There are also two 3D pieces displayed in this case. The 3D champion and 3D reserve champion. After the champions are the top 72 high school pieces of art that will be auctioned during the School Art Auction with the champions and reserve champion pieces of art.

Because art is subjective, the grand champion piece of art may or may not be auctioned for the most amount of money. Sometimes the pieces that go for the most money are pieces that include an obvious part of the HLSR. In the past pictures of the famous rodeo clowns have gone for A LOT of money. I’ll be curious to see how much the Painting Grand Champion piece goes for since it’s of the infamous Leon Coffee.

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Are you interested in volunteering? Be aware that some committees only work during the rodeo while others (like School Art) work before and after the rodeo. Here’s the link to learn more