SIX-YEAR OLD WINS CHALK ART CONTEST

by Nancy Kalikow Maxwell

Whenever school starts again, six-year old Sully Nine will be driven to school by a Prairie Village Police D.A.R.E. officer.  He can pick out anything worth $50.00 at the Learning Tree toy store, and treat himself and his family to $20.00 worth of ice cream at the Summer Salt ice cream parlor. Sully earned all these rewards by winning the Sidewalk Art Contest sponsored by the City of Prairie Village.

​The son of Amy and Chet Nine, six-year old Sully is a rising first grader at Belinder Elementary. His winning entry, an American flag, received more “likes” on Facebook than the other eight artwork photos that were submitted by entrants ranging in age from 3 to 51.

According to his mother, Amy, Sully likes to draw animals but for this contest chose to design something “patriotic and USA-related.” After looking up pictures of flags that he could replicate, he employed the “tape and chalk” method 9-year old Siena Taylor described in the Prairie Village Arts Council blog, outlining the image with masking tape first and then coloring it in.  
​Sully tried to depict all fifty stars in his banner, but couldn’t squeeze them all in. But that obviously didn’t keep him from winning the contest. Sully is excited to have won the contest and says he is “kind of interested in being an artist” when he grows up, but would rather be a veterinarian.  Who knows? Maybe he’ll end up drawing pictures of animals for a living.

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