Hailey Puent, a talented, young artist, graduating from West Salem, took the top prize in the Wisconsin Art Education Association Art Contest, with the grand prize of $750.

The WASB (Wisconsin Association of School Boards) held the contest partnering with Wisconsin Art Education Association, and Mr. Brown entered a few students, and out of those students, Hailey is the only one who placed in the contest from West Salem, she also took first place.

The application process was fairly swift, with the help of Mr. Brown, it didn’t take long, and 2 weeks later she got the email of her accomplishment. Puent did not expect to win, but she was exhilarated to find out that she did. “I literally screamed to the point where my mom thought I was injured,” says Puent. 

Hailey has always taken an interest in art, even owning her own business since the age of 14, selling her work. If interested you can visit her instagram, @haileypuent.art, and follow the link in her bio to purchase her art. With her talent and determination, Puent has entered several art competitions, one being her taking first place in the Art Discovery competition. Her newest win, titled ‘A Brighter Day’, was time well spent, taking approximately twenty-three hours to finish. Her drawing follows the theme of the competition of, “People coming back from covid, and reshape in their life,” says Hailey. 

Between the color pencils and pastel, and wondrous ink, came with some roadblocks to overcome. Artist block, it’s when you are unable to come up with new ideas to proceed to draw. When Hailey was describing it she said, “Artist block, it’s like writer’s block, that’s the hardest thing.” But in the end she always pushes through it, coming out with fabulous new illustrations.

With her expertise she plans to continue to pursue professionally, some will be shocked to know that she didn’t take an art class until last year, which she only took because of  Mr. Keys. “I was blown away by the fact that she had never taken an art class because her art was some of the most amazing work I’ve ever seen,” says Keys. 

Mr. Brown and Hailey will be heading off to Milwaukee to the Wisconsin Center on January 18th, where Hailey will receive an award at the  ceremony. “Her skill level is so high, and so detailed that I feel like her work just needed to be recognized. A person can look at her work and say ‘wow she’s talented’, but I know talent only comes from hard work,” says Brown while explaining why he picked Hailey for the contest. Her hard work paid off, and she will have the award to prove it.