Entry forms now available

Entry forms for the 2012 H’Art of the Palouse banner painting contest are available in Colfax at City Hall, Whitman library and the Chamber of Commerce and on the Colfax Arts Council website: http://www.colfaxarts.com.

Debi Anderson, council president, said the contest has been set on a new schedule that will follow the holiday season and have the banners hanging in the spring with the final artists reception in May.

The first four years of the event have produced 40 banners which are on display along Main Street Lights, at Rosauers and in the Library’s Hamilton Drug building.

Entry fees remain the same: $10 for artists 18 years or younger, and $20 for adults.

Deadline for design drawings will be February 3. Participants are asked to submit a scale color rendition on an 11 X 17-inch (legal size) piece of paper, cardboard or similar material; the picture should measure 7 1/2 X 15 inches. This will be on scale with the 30 X 60-inch vinyl banners. The design entry can be in any media, such as colored pencil, crayon, markers or paint.

Entries may be dropped off at Whitman County Library, the Port of Whitman office on Mill Street or be mailed to the Colfax Arts Council at 911 S. East Street, Colfax, 99111. All addresses are on the entry form.

A panel of judges will jury the entries and winners will be announced Feb. 11.

A workshop for winners will be Saturday, Feb. 13, to advise artists on the kinds of paint to use and preparation of the banner for painting. Blank banners will be given to artists. An overhead projector will be available at the workshop for participants to blow their smaller picture up to banner size and sketch the design onto the banner.

March 30 is the deadline for artists to finish the banners and deliver them to the port office. Banners will be hung April 22 in time for the residents to vote for their favorites.

As in past years, a People’s Choice Award will be presented to the winners of the community vote. The prizes include artist items and other gift certificates and items and cash. Colfax Arts Council seeds the prize with cash and people in the community add cash or gifts.

At the May 3 artists reception for all the banner artists, winners of the People’s Choice Award will be announced.