Sanders’ Macklin Becenti Sketches His Way to 2009 Native American Student Art Competition Victory

SANDERS - April 24, 2009 - It takes quite a bit to get Valley High School junior Macklin Becenti excited. Even upon hearing that his most recent drawing had taken first place at the 2009 Native American Student Artist Competition, Becenti just “played it cool,” according to his art teacher Gay Caudill.

But then again, winning art competitions is becoming old hat for Becenti, who captured a regional contest earlier this year in Gallup, NM.

Caudill, however, wasn’t nearly as calm about her student’s latest triumph.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “When I heard the news, I thought it was (the competition) he won back in the fall, but this was a really big competition.”

Big, indeed!

A total of 604 students from 30 states submitted works in various media, and Becenti’s pencil drawing depicting a Navajo grandmother weaving as a child reads her school work took home first place for the student category grades 11-12. The competition’s theme was: “Tradition is My Life, Education is My Future” and was open to all American Indian and Alaskan Native students in grades pre-K through 12.

For earning the award, Macklin wins multiple prizes and will have his artwork displayed across the country, including stops at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, Oklahoma City History Center and the Chicago Children’s Museum. He and his mother will have the opportunity to take an all expenses paid trip to Washington this July to see his picture displayed at the Smithsonian.

Becenti’s drawing is his first depicting the Navajo culture for quite some time.

“That’s the first traditional drawing I have done since I was in elementary school,” Becenti said. “I usually just do portraits – mostly gothic stuff.”

The soft-spoken Becenti is his usually quiet self when describing his desire to draw.

“It’s a hobby because I don’t have anything else to do,” he said. “I have been doing this since I was two years old.”

Artistic talent runs in Becenti’s family. His uncles Calvin, Marvin and Ervin are all well-known painters on the Navajo Nation. While Becenti says his uncles inspired him, he prefers to express his art with a pencil.

“I just like using pencil,” Becenti explained. “Painting is mixing colors and all that…I used to paint. I just like black and white and use a .5 led pencil.”