This March, UW Oshkosh student Jordyn Hussey was deemed the winner of the competitive University category in the fourth annual Packers Student Art Contest.

The Packer Student Art Contest is an annual art competition that gives opportunities to students of different age groups to showcase their artistic abilities as well as win awards for themselves and their schools.

This year’s theme was Packers Gameday Traditions, a topic near and dear to many Packer fans.

Each artwork is judged by the Green Bay Packers based on interpretation/clarity of theme, originality, quality of design and overall impression.

The winner of the university category, Jordyn Hussey, is a UWO junior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art education.

Hussey’s oil painting, titled “My First Surface,” shows her compositional skills as well as her compelling interpretation of the Gameday Traditions theme.

For this piece, Hussey drew inspiration from a Packers gameday tradition started with her father when she was young, which consisted of Hussey painting a Packer helmet on her father’s bald head.

“I titled my painting ‘My First Surface’ because my dad’s head was truly the first surface that I painted on,” she said.

Her painted submission, which features a hand painting a man’s head to look like a Packer helmet, was enough to catch the eye of the judging panel.

As the winner of the university category of the Packers Student Art Contest, “My First Surface” will be on display for the upcoming season at the Packers’ home field, Lambeau Field.

Hussey’s painting also earned her three home-game Packer tickets, a $500 travel-voucher and a $5,000 donation to the UWO Art Department.

Although Hussey claims that her victory in the Packer Student Art Contest has been her biggest accomplishment yet in her art career, this isn’t the first time she has had a successful experience with her work.

In 2019, she showcased some of her art at a small business in Downtown Appleton called Lillian’s, where she began selling her work.

More recently, in 2020, Blue Moon Emporium, also located in Downtown Appleton, has been selling mini prints of Hussey’s artwork.

Still, Hussey credits her Packer Gameday tradition of painting her father’s head as the ground-zero of her artistic journey.

“Today, being a painter, I am thankful that we shared this tradition together as his head sparked my art career,” she said.

With a passion for continuing her art career, Hussey is using these accomplishments as milestones toward her artistic goals.

Hussey is considering continuing her education at the Graduate level to obtain a Master of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting at UW-Madison.

“I am eager to learn about all the different ways art is created. I am eager to continue to develop my skills and I am eager to teach at the adult/university level,” Hussey said of her plans in seeking her MFA.

Hussey’s piece, “My First Surface,” will be on display during the upcoming Packers season at Lambeau Field, while mini prints of her work remain for sale at Blue Moon Emporium in Downtown Appleton.