Local illustrator, former art teacher winner of Wildflower Festival poster contest

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - The Woodlands Wildflower Festival is this Saturday, September 26, at Town Green Park from 10am to 2pm. The free event will have lots of family-friendly activities for everyone to enjoy. Come on out for a day of fun complete with a petting zoo, giant inflatables, vendors, exhibits, local mascots, music, food trucks, and much more!

Prior to Saturday’s event, the annual Wildflower Festival Contest was held and contestants had the chance to get their artwork on the official Wildflower Festival poster or T-shirt. Madeline Smith, who was in the 14-18 age group, was the T-shirt winner, and Cheryl Pilgrim was the overall, poster winner of the contest. All of the selected winners for each age group are as follows:

0-4 years:


Grace Kotalik

Bradley Jelinek

5-8 years:


Reed Kotalik

Gwendolyn Butler

9 – 13:


Robin Kowalski

Spencer Johnson

14-18:


Madeleine Smith (T-shirt winner)

Ebwacheekwu Oguchi

Adult:


Cheryl Pilgrim (Poster Winner)

Julie Graham

The official Wildflower Festival poster and T-shirt will be on sale at the event at The Woodlands Lions Club booth, an organization that provides services for youth and seniors such as programs for the blind and visually impaired. Proceeds from the sales will benefit this worthy organization.

Cheryl Pilgrim will be signing posters at the event from 10am to noon.

“I’m honored to be selected for the Woodlands Wildflower Poster,” said Pilgrim. “I love that we have a community that supports the arts and local artists.”

A resident of The Woodlands for 15 years, Pilgrim is a former art teacher where she taught at both Bush Elementary and McCullough Junior High. Most recently, she illustrated a new children’s book, Hound Dawg. Written by Patricia Vermillion, the book is an adorable, southern retelling of The Little Red Hen. Incidentally, Pilgrim will be signing copies of the book at Barnes & Noble The Woodlands after the Wildflower Festival, from 2pm to 4pm.

Although she has had many successes, Pilgrim has had her fair share of rejections, but for her, it only made her more passionate about her art.

"My advice for children (or anyone) entering this contest or any other competition is don’t get discouraged when you don’t win a contest or your art gets rejected,” Pilgrim explained. “I enter this contest and other competitions all the time and don’t win. My rejection stack is much larger than my 'wins.' But you have to be willing to submit your artwork and get rejected in order to grow and get new opportunities. As Michael Jordan said, ‘I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’”

For more information about The Woodlands Wildflower Festival this weekend, as well as Cheryl Pilgrim’s book signing for Hound Dawg, visit the corresponding links provided below.