Comic 'n Art: RIO RANCHO HIGH SCHOOL CLAIMS TOP $50,000 PRIZE AT THE THIRD ANNUAL VANS CUSTOM CULTURE ART SHOWCASE AT THE LONG BEACH MUSEUM OF ART

Students from Rio Rancho High School (Rio Rancho, NM) claimed top prize on Wednesday, May 30, 2011 at the Vans Custom Culture Art & Design Showcase at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Rio Rancho’s four Vans shoe designs were initially chosen from nearly 900 submissions across all 50 states and with the top honor, Rio Rancho High School receives a $50,000 grant towards the school’s art programs. Rio Rancho High School was also honored by Journeys with a $5,000 contribution for winning the “Local Attitude” award for creating the shoes that best represented their home turf.

Creativity and innovation dominated the students’ shoe designs, transforming four themes - art, music, action sports, and local attitude- into four striking pieces of original art. The judges panel included skate legend Tony Alva, musician Jordan Buckley of Every Time I Die, tattoo artist Oliver Peck (Spike TV’s Ink Master), actress AnnaLynne McCord (The CW’s 90210), and designer, television host and author Whitney Port. 

Vans pro skater and LBC local Geoff Rowley also cruised by to check out the student's impressive work.

Teacher Matthew Lutz’s Rio Rancho class initially was chosen through a highly competitive process that narrowed the 900 schools to 50 semi- finalists. The five national finalists were chosen by more than 100,000 votes place through online voting: Big Bear High School (Big Bear, CA), Mountain View High School (Meridian, ID), Watkins Glen High School (Watkins Glen, NY), Rio Rancho High School (Rio Rancho, NM) and Eastern High School (Louisville, KY).


How Vans Custom Culture Works
Earlier this year, each of the nearly 900 participating high schools were sent four pairs of Vans shoes as a blank canvas to design their creations. Each shoe was to represent one of four themes: Action Sports, Music, Art and Local Flavor. Schools then submitted photo entries via the Vans Custom Culture website with global voting eventually whittling the entries down to the “Final Five” showed their work at the Long Beach Museum of Art. The top school will receive $50,000, while each finalist receives $5,000. The Journeys “Local Attitude” trophy awards one school with a $5,000 donation for the most compelling local theme.