I won the best in show for the Art Inspired exhibit for my “Formerly Occupied Places” piece.

Last week I printed a digital piece I created in the fall and entered it for consideration in the Art Inspired show at Iowa State University.

I created an ethereal, layered world from spaces that my husband and I had formerly occupied to make a new space for us as a way to connect when we were apart for three years. I considered all of the other people who occupied these spaces in the past, including those whose land we stole to create all of the states which I’ve inhabited. I used a mixture of physical media, digital painting, and glitched photographs of the spaces to create this piece.

My piece was one of 39 pieces chosen from 300+ entries.

I wasn’t expecting to win anything, but because I’m superstitious, I wore my lucky boots (yes, the same ones I have had since high school!) and I doubled my luck with a lucky shirt I borrowed from my friend.

Thank you to Sam for taking these pictures! I am going to have to keep producing work so I can continue to enter these free shows. It’s fun to be recognized, even on a small scale.

Would you enter something you made (art, food, music, crafts, etc.) in a contest? Have you before?