THUNDER BAY — Inspired by a Brazilian artist and her love of colourful clothing, a student from Dryden has made the finals of an international competition by making a graduation dress using duct tape.
Now Monica Walsh is hoping area residents will support her by voting for her creation in the Duck Tape Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest.
Duck tape is a brand manufactured by North Carolina-based Shurtape Technologies.
Walsh, who's 18, just graduated from high school and will attend Lakehead University this fall.
A lot of her post-secondary education expenses will be covered if she wins the competition, because the prize is a $15,000 scholarship.
She is one of just five people – and the only Canadian – selected for the finals.
"Duck tape has lots of fun colours, and I really wanted to embrace that in my dress. It was inspired by Romero Britto, an artist in Brazil who makes fun pop art," Walsh said Tuesday from Loon Lake, where she spends her summers with family.
Her vibrantly-coloured entry was constructed from 13 rolls of Duck tape, and took about 126 hours to complete.
She said it was her mom who convinced her to enter the competition after she learned about it in May.
"I saw it online, but I thought I didn't have enough time because it was too late in the school year. A couple of days later, my mom came into my room and said I should enter because I'm a pretty creative person . . . so I started working on it non-stop."
Reflecting on her creative journey, Walsh recalled that somewhere between Grade 7 and 8, her friends shifted away from using bright colours and fun patterns, but that she continued embracing brighter hues in her daily attire "to express my happy vibe."
In a write-up for the competition, she said: "My goal was for my dress to be unique, runway worthy, and push the limits of prom fashion."
She put her creation on display for a school art show, but didn't find out she was a finalist in the contest until the day of her high school graduation.
Although she would have liked to have worn it for that big event, she wasn't allowed to share the news until about a week later, so decided to play it safe rather than risk letting it slip that she had made it to the finals
"I did want to wear it. I thought, 'This is so cool, and it would be good publicity.'"
Publicity is important, because members of the public can help her by casting a vote for her dress on the contest website, where they can also see a video showing various stages of her project, from start to finish.
Voting remains open until July 10.
