A young female artist created the poster
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The poster for the 2019 Calgary Stampede is a salute to women who participate in penning and other western sports.
Organizers unveiled the poster during a ceremony yesterday.
The artwork features a blonde woman riding a horse. Her face is covered by a large, black hat adorned with a red rose. The background of the poster is light blue.
Rebecca Shuttleworth, a fourth-year AgBio student at the University of Saskatchewan, created the poster. This marks the first time a youth created the Stampede’s signature artwork.
The artist grew up on her family’s Charolais ranch in Airdrie, Alta. She took an interest in art at an early age and has created several pieces based on her rural upbringing.
“As a fifth-generation farmer I know how hard women work on the farm that’s something that motivates me every to do my best,” she said in a release yesterday. “It’s what I wanted to show in my piece.”
The poster also reminds girls that they can participate in the same sports as their male counterparts.
Twyla Goodbun, past president of the Alberta Cattlemen’s Penning & Sorting Association, has witnessed the influx of female participation firsthand.
“We’re just as big a part of the community as the men are,” she told Farms.com. “In 2000, my family decided we were going to get into western sports and, at that time, very few women were involved.
“A friend of mine’s husband had been team penning and I suggested putting together a team of all girls. It started a whole series of families and women starting up. I now have a 12-year-old granddaughter who competes with us. She knows that she’s just as strong as some of the boys in her age group.”
The event’s origins can be traced back to 1886.
The Stampede’s history is important, but officials wanted to promote how today’s youth perceive the event.
“We wanted to provide an opportunity for youth to showcase their talent on a world stage,” Dana Peers, first vice-chair of the Calgary Stampede, said during the ceremony yesterday, Global News reported. “We discovered how the next generation views the Calgary Stampede and the western way of life.”
Stampede organizers are already taking applications from youths wanting to design the 2020 poster.
Artists between 15 and 24 years of age have until Nov. 18, 2018 to apply.
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