Arizona Artist Wins Garlic Fest Poster Contest

Press release from the Garlic Festival: 
Sherry Harig of Huachuca City, Arizona was awarded First Place and the $500 grand prize in the Gilroy Garlic Festival’s annual Art Poster Contest. Harig’s winning creation, which beat out over 20 other entries, combines acrylic paint and colored pencil on a textured burlap background. The poster promotes the upcoming Gilroy Garlic Festival, to be held July 29, 30 & 31 at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy.
“Our judges all really loved the simplicity of this poster,” commented Marsha Struzik, chair of the Festival’s Retail Committee. “It’s really just about the garlic.”
Harig says she attended some of the very early Gilroy Garlic Festivals when she lived in nearby Los Banos and was encouraged to enter the poster contest by family members that still live in California. Her design was inspired by photos of freshly-harvested garlic in burlap sacks. Harig got a piece of burlap to use for reference and then decided to use the burlap itself to cover her entire canvas. She combined drywall plaster and Tacky glue to create a base over the burlap so she could draw the detailed garlic bulbs using colored pencil. She used acrylic paint for the lettering, and then created an actual tag (made from an old manila folder) with the Festival dates.
Harig explains, “I meet every week with a group of artist friends in Sierra Vista, and they provided a lot of support and inspiration as I worked on this project. They were just as excited as I was when we found out I’d been chosen as the winner!”
Second Place ($250) was awarded to Gilroy resident Kris Knutson, and Third Place ($100) went to Patty Curtis from nearby Morgan Hill. Madelyne Joan Templeton from Red Bluff, California was named winner of the $200 “Association’s Choice” award, selected by the Festival’s committee chairs and board members.