February 28, 2000
A winning view of the future
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
His vision may seem fanciful, yet this was the way he saw the future of the world in the next 1,000 years.
With his artistic ability, Tiffin Middle School student Lucas Bushkuhl created an underwater world, with different means of transportation, and police patrols in diving suits.
And his work is now on display at the Toledo Museum of Art's Plough Gallery, one of the northeast areas winners in the Crayola Dreammakers Art Contest, entitled, "Millennium Traveler.'' He and his family attended an awards and recognition ceremony Feb. 5 at the University of Toledo's Center for the Visual Arts.
He entered the contest with his classmates at Washington Elementary last spring, when he was a fifth grader in Jan Affholder's art class.
"The theme was that they were supposed to illustrate what they thought the new millennium would be like,'' Affholder explained. "They had to illustrate it, then write a short paragraph, attached to the back of their work explaining their dream.''
Affholder said the contests usually are submitted to five sections of the country, with the main judging in Baltimore. This time, it was much more local, in Toledo. "So this time if they won they would get to go to the ceremonies,'' she added.
She had no idea one of her students had won until returning to school this fall. "I received a letter June 10th or 11th, but that letter was sitting in my mailbox at school all summer,'' she said.
The futuristic drawing is hanging at the museum until March 5, when it will travel to Columbus to the Early Childhood Building for permanent display.
His mother, Theresa Heyman, accompanied him to the awards ceremony. "I was really amazed at the talent,'' she said. "You understand why it is important to promote art education in the school, because it helps with the creativity of the child.''
Lucas explained his colored pencil drawing. "It has a dome that will close over for the city,'' he said. "And the law enforcement will be different. I had vehicles traveling in the water. I think that we will live in underwater cities that look like this in the future.''
He was surprised that he won, and hopes to pursue his love of art. For his efforts in this contest, he was awarded an art set, containing watercolors, crayons, colored pencils and oil pastels. He hopes to pursue his artistic studies towards a career in computer graphics.
"I love art because it's fun and create things just from your mind,'' Bushkuhl said. "I'll be messing around and something will come up on paper and it will be interesting.''
"We were really excited that someone won in Tiffin,'' Heyman added. "And it was up to her (Affholder) to decide if she was going to enter anyone. The school was real excited when someone really won, and now she can promote that when she encourages other students to enter art contests.''
"I was thrilled that he won,'' Affholder said of her former student. "I felt it would be real good for him. Art has been a good thing for him. He is very artistic and this will be one of the many positive things that will happen with Lucas because of his interest in art.''