Eureka Smith, a senior at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, won second place in the recent Thea Foundation Scholarship Competition Fashion Design Division.
Smith earned a $9,000 scholarship for her place in the competition. The Thea Foundation serves as an advocate for the importance in arts in the development of Arkansas’ youth. The foundation provides assistance and encouragement through scholarship competitions, providing art supplies to educators and students, and professional development training among other activities.
Each year the foundation holds a series of scholarship competitions that focus on various art categories including performing arts, visual arts, creative writing, film, fashion design and spoken word. The competition is open to all Arkansas high school seniors from public, private and charter schools as well as homeschooled seniors and those seeking their GED.
Smith entered the Fashion Design contest with a blouse and pants set using polyester satin and a design she adapted from a pattern she made in a sewing course. She was inspired by the Hollywood glamour of the 1930s.
“I wanted to emulate this glamour using wide sating sleeves and pant legs,” she said.
She created her piece as a project for her Senior Studio, an arts-based capstone track that allows students to develop a portfolio including for competitions. Having the opportunity to explore her interests in fashion design and textile science in a focused experience is special, she said.
“It is rare that a school provides an art class with so much guidance but also so much freedom. I was given the freedom to explore textiles and fashion through fine arts which is an opportunity I wouldn’t have had at any other school,” Smith said.
Smith said she is interested in studying fashion design and textile science in college.
“I have always appreciated the beauty of fashion but also the practical and technical side as well. These days there is such a technical side in the production of sewing patterns and fabrics that is very relevant as the fashion industry is so large and its environmental impact is so intense,” she said.
“At the same time, finding and modifying clothing and outfits can be such a cool way to express one’s personal style.”
Currently she is considering North Carolina State and Thomas Jefferson University as possible places to continue her education. Both have schools of textiles that provide education on textile science as well as fashion design. Regardless of where she eventually chooses, the scholarship will be helpful.
“I was ecstatic,” she said about earning the scholarship. “This $9,000 is going to make such a huge difference in where I will be able to go to college.”