This past week, Sara Davis was announced as the winner of the goose art contest, with nearly 400 people voting for her submission. The contest was put on by the faculty, staff and retiree (FSR) giving program. Sara is a UW alumni currently working as a staff member in the co-operative and experimental education department. Sara graduated in 2017 with a BA, majoring in fine arts. Sara has been around UW for the majority of her life, with both her parents being staff at the university. There is no denying that her close connection to Waterloo allowed her to encompass the spirit of the school in her goose art.
Looking at Sara’s drawing, there are many things at play. In an interview, she said she wanted to create an image that encompassed major aspects of the university’s campus as a whole. This can largely be seen in her depiction of the goose’s body, which focuses largely on plants, showing a connection to the university’s focus on environmental aspects. She took it one step further by not only ensuring that all faculties’ colours were represented in the colourful makeup of the goose’s body, but she also incorporated the inclusive aspects of the LGBTQ community, showing Waterloo’s allegiance to equality.
Another large aspect of Sara’s drawing is the inclusion of some well-known buildings on campus. Any student at Waterloo has no problem identifying buildings such as Dana Porter, or the famous hexagon design of the quantum building. On top of this, in her decision to include certain buildings, she wanted to ensure that it was inclusive of many faculties to encompass the diversity of discipline offerings at the University.
When asked about the overall design of the drawing, she stated that “although the goose is not the mascot for UW, it is at the base or the core of Waterloo as a whole.” This explains why the drawing depicts the goose being at the centre and seen to be holding up the famous buildings on campus in a sense. Sara did mention that this drawing is how she depicts Waterloo overall, a diverse setting that has many different offerings.
When discussing the process as a whole, Sara noted that the most challenging part was getting going. She wanted to strike a careful balance between being abstract and different — but not too abstract. It is fair to say that she did just that, the drawing turned out amazing and received the most votes, ultimately being crowned champion of the goose art competition.
