Designs by four Kentlake High art students could be seen on shoes in the future.

The quartet entered Vans Culture Contest with each offering their own spin on footwear design. They were selected for the top 50 out of entrains from nearly 1,000 schools.

Juniors Rocky Mamotyuk and Bilal Abubakar, as well as seniors Ayla Hill and Nicole Kuntz, had the opportunity to participate after their art teacher, Ruth Appleby, heard about the contest from a friend and felt it was a great chance for the students to demonstrate their talent.

“It was just different,” Appleby said. “I had never done anything like it before.”

With it being the first time she had known about the competition, she decided to go with students who were safe bets as far as passion went.

“I pretty much had to pick four students who I know would probably enjoy painting shoes,” she said.

Although the four students were excited when told about the contest, they came from separate art backgrounds. Mamotyuk was the only one who had drawn on shoes before, albeit she said it was not nearly as detailed.

“I thought it was interesting that it was a school event across the country and seeing other cultures expressed in how they designed their shoes,” Mamotyuk said.

Abubakar preferred to draw people while Hill was into paintings and drawing.

“I was excited,” Abubakar said. “I thought it was cool because I’ve never been involved in an art contest on such a large scale. I was scared a little bit.”

Notified of the contest in February, they received the shoes in March, with a month to complete the design and send them back. Each student was put into a specific category which allowed them to explore their particular tastes and styles.

Mamotyuk, for example, had low-ankle shoes and was put in the Action-Sports category. She used a longboard and surfboard motif, as she felt the shoes were closely associated with long boarding.

“I do like to use a lot of colors and patterns,” she said. “I like this sort of thing.”

Hill was put into the local flavor category with a pair of Sk8-Hi. She drew along the entire length of the shoe tongue and painted the words “Post” and “Alley” on one of each shoe, as well as bubblegum painted over the shoe, in tribute to the Market Theater Gum Wall in Seattle located on Post Alley.

“I’ve only been there once, but I really liked it,” she said.

Working in the music category with Slip On shoes, Abubakar took a cue from his interest in break dancing. On the shoe is a dance floor with the silhouette of a break dancer, along with a treble clef and speakers on both sides.

“It was pretty natural,” he said.

Kuntz, who was placed in the art category, created a multi-colored scheme with pencils at the tips of the shoes and painted the shoelaces turquoise.

Mamotyuk added, however, that before she worked on the shoes she made several drafts, starting with pencil sketches to perfect the design before actually working on the shoes as they were only given one pair. This made working with parts of the shoe, particularly the shoe laces, somewhat painstaking, as she painted them different color shades, as well as separate designs for each shoelace.

After sending in the shoes, they were informed at the end of April they had made the top 50 out of 900 schools participating. Although they didn’t make it to the top five both Mamotyuk and Abubakar said they intend to try again next year.

As for the shoes themselves, the students were allowed to keep them, though only Abubakar said his fit.

To view their show designs, go to Vans’ contest page at http://www.vans.com/customculture/vote/top50/