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Campbell River mom enters B.C.-themed design into Vans shoe contest

Cape Mudge Lighthouse, Big Rock and Quadra ferry all featured

A Campbell River mom is hoping the local coastline will garner enough votes in an online contest for her design to be made into a pair of shoes.

Mellissa Davis has designed a Campbell River-inspired shoe for the 2019 Vans Custom Culture shoe design contest.

“I thought that Campbell River is kind of a good community to get behind people and help them win a contest like this, so why not put our beautiful coastline on the shoe,” she said.

Davis, who was born and raised on Vancouver Island, has lived on Quadra Island and has been in Campbell River for the last four years. She doesn’t have a background in art, but enjoys drawing and painting. She said the shoe design is only her second attempt at digital drawing.

She printed off a paper template from the contest and set out to sketch the major elements.

“I have always liked how iconic Big Rock is and so I knew that had to be in there. I wanted to do a little ode to Quadra by putting the Cape Mudge Lighthouse in there, and then I know that geographically the ferry would not be where it is on the shoe, but I couldn’t leave that out,” she said.

Davis said she’s always enjoyed drawing and painting, but has only recently started experiementing with digital art.

She’s always loved the Campbell River coastline.

“I love going and sitting at the beach and picking up sea glass and finding perfectly round rocks,” she said.

Since posting her design and asking for votes in a local Facebook group, Davis said she got more than 600 votes. It’s more than she was expecting, but she knows she has a long way to go if her design has any hope of making it to the next round.

Only 10 designs will move on for a shot to be made into a pair of shoes. The current top three designs have all cracked the 8,000 vote mark. The contest’s website said that after voting closes, the top designs will be shared with the contest’s four judges (two Vans representatives and two Los Angeles-based artists) who will narrow the options down to 10. Those finalists will work with a Vans design mentor to create their final submission.

The current round of voting continues until Oct. 13.

You can check out Davis’ design here.

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@marissatiel
marissa.tiel@campbellrivermirror.com

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