Vocational School Teacher and Longtime Sidewalk Art Fest Fan Wins Logo Competition

By JOLIE POLLARD pollard.jolie@gmail.com

Not a professional artist by any measure, Godwin Torres decided to take his teaching supplies and jump in to this year’s Placencia Sidewalk Art Festival logo design contest. The tourism, hospitality and culinary arts teacher at Georgetown Technical High School said his drawing took him four hours to complete. “I could have it done it digitally, which would be prettier and easier, but I wanted to present an actual handmade piece,” Torres said.

Put up to a vote against two digital creations on Facebook, the masses clicking the like button on the Placencia Sidewalk Art Festival page declared that they too preferred a hand crafted design.

After a digital tweak by Natasha Eiley of the Placencia Chapter of the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA), the logo now sits prominently in a circle surrounded by a big splash of bright colors (See front page). As they do each year, the Placencia BTIA will be selling t-shirts featuring the final design inside their office at the Placencia Tourism Center and at their official Placencia BTIA booth at the event. Funds raised assist the festival organizers with planning more annual events, operating the tourism center, publishing this newspaper and much more to promote grassroots tourism on the Peninsula. (See festival map on page 27.)

Godwin Torres' pencil crayon drawing incorporated conch shell, painting and wood sculpting elements in his winning design.

“I know I have a bit of creativity in me, and I wanted to test it out there,” Torres said. “Since I was a child I have been drawing and placing my pieces where people can see them, just so I can see their reactions.”

The 32 year old, who has been teaching at Georgetown for the past 11 years, says that many teachers will buy expensive materials to decorate their classrooms or pay people, but in his case, he’s always created his own.

“And I enjoy my students’ reactions because I’ll draw cartoon characters that are so old, they are lost! … But it catches their attention.”

Torres grew up in Orange Walk Town, but currently resides in Independence Village. As the son of Placencia fisherman, boat captain and tour guide, Benji Eiley, Torres has always maintained a strong relationship with Placencia and looks forward to attending the Sidewalk Art Festival each year. “I enjoy seeing things from a different perspective. What may be trash for some is art – fascinating art for others,” he said.

Two years ago while studying culinary arts in Austria, Torres said he visited a few places in central Europe where he found himself making comparisons between European and Belizean art. “I can tell anyone that Belizeans are very creative people.”

The fact that Placencia sets a weekend aside to “celebrate, highlight and promote art, is just pure awesomeness!” Torres said. Congratulate this new artist among the pros and amateurs on the Feb. 9-10 weekend. ▪