Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art (The Square) is hosting a t-shirt design contest for young artists ages 5-18 in preparation for the 14th Annual Arts on Fire Festival. The deadline to apply for the contest is July 15th.
Each year, The Square selects a line-drawing created by a Great Falls-area student (public, private, or homeschool students are eligible to enter) and partners with the Lynx Graphix screen-printing studio at Paris Gibson Education Center to create a t-shirt that celebrates the festival. The theme this year is: the Flame of Creativity.
The winning designs are selected by The Square’s Education Committee and staff team.
First place will be recognized by having their design printed on the shirts for the 14th Annual Arts on Fire Festival. They will also receive a free youth art class of choice, a T-shirt with their design, and stickers that feature the second-place winner’s design.
Second place will have their design printed on stickers and will receive a selection of them along with a T-shirt.
Eligible drawings will be clear line art, with black ink or marker and no shading. Bold outlines work best, as the design must be clean during the screen-printing process.
Images that are drawn by hand using software like ProCreate or Illustrator are acceptable, but The Square will not accept any AI-generated images for this contest.
Entrants should bring their completed artwork to Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art (The Square) at 1400 1st Ave N, Great Falls or email a high-resolution PDF or PNG file (at least 300dpi) to sjohnson@the-square.org by July 14th, 2025.
Those with questions can contact Sara Johnson, Operations Manager at sjohnson@the-square.org.
About the 14th Annual Arts on Fire Festival
This year’s Arts on Fire Festival will be held Saturday, September 13th from 10am – 4pm on the grounds of The Square. The event features art activities for all ages, an artist vendor market, live performances, food trucks, free root beer floats, a pottery sale fundraiser, and more. The event is free and open to the public.
