Have you ever thought about what it would be like to paint your tunes?

This is exactly what our Fine Arts Cohort visual art students were able to do when they entered Crosley Radio’s Custom Cruiser Contest, which challenged them to paint the sides and interior of a classic Crosley vinyl record player using the theme, Sounds of Kentucky.

Although the competition was tough with 25 Kentucky schools entered, our GRC students came out on top with the win and a grand award of $2,500 for the arts program. This huge accomplishment was unexpected as it was the first year for the competition.

“There was a lot of screaming and dancing, not only from Cohort students but from other students who were also in here at the time,” said teacher Brittani Fuller. “They were really surprised and didn’t believe me at first.”

The Louisville-based Crosley Radio saw this competition as a way to reach out and connect with the community in their home state.

View Libby Taylor’s gallery of when Crosley traveled to GRC to present the award and share their interactive bus with the students.

“Crosley is all about making music and design accessible to everybody,” said Kaitlyn Clay, public relations and media specialist for Crosley. “Our main goal with this was — what can we do to give back to the students and to give back to our home state? And what more fun way than to actually draw on a record player itself. We had made a Canvas cruiser style to sell for people to draw on. But we were like, why don’t we just challenge some students across our home state to be able to do this?”

Crosley came to GRC to present the check and give the students a chance to check out their bus. See Libby Taylor’s photo gallery HERE.

Cohort art teachers Brittani Fuller saw the competition online and challenged her students to enter.

The students virtually submitted their project to the competition where audience votes determined the finalists who were then judged by company reps.

“We all came up with a few ideas and put it into a giant Google presentation, and from there we threw them out on a board and just came up with what we wanted it to look like,” said senior Cassidy Seals Benavides. “We all just took the theme how we wanted and created our designs.” 

Each side of the player shows a unique style of the students while still blending beautifully with its sister sides, creating a fascinating piece of art that our school now gets to display right here in GRC.

The project includes a portrait of Bill Monroe, a reference to My Old Kentucky Home and Blue Moon of Kentucky, and of course, two Cardinals drinking Ale-8.

In announcing the award, Crosley wrote, “After an incredible round of public voting and a final deliberation by our panel of judges, George Rogers Clark High School’s design stood out for its creativity, its impact, and its connection to our theme, Sounds of Kentucky. They’ll be taking home the grand prize of $2,500 to support their art program!”

Ms. Clay said GRC’s submission “showed off every aspect of music and the Sounds of Kentucky.”

The Cohort hopes to participate again if Crosley holds another such competition.

“My favorite part about the process was the planning process because it was just like a ah-ha moment for me as a teacher,” said Ms. Fuller. “Watching them collaborate and bounce off of each others’ ideas really reminded me of why I get up in the morning.”

Gallery • 7 Photos