After just one day had passed at the McDonald County Fair in mid-July, Chelsea Kissire had won three purple ribbons and was getting ready to show her crossbred heifer. Getting three purple ribbons is great, but getting them in two different fields is even more impressive.
Chelsea, a 2010 McDonald County High School graduate, is a young lady with varied talents. She won one champion ribbon for a desk and chair she made.
There is a story behind the table. Chelsea had seen a similar one in a huge furniture store in Kansas City
"It was very expensive," she said. "I thought I could make it cheaper."
This past year in high school, Chelsea was enrolled in a welding class, so she made the steel bases for both the desk and chair. Then, the week before Christmas break, she arranged to work in Mr. Campbell's wood shop during her welding class periods. There she made the cedar wood tops, then finished the pieces at home.
Chelsea added the veterinarian emblem in the center top of the table for her twin sister, for whom it was built.
Because her twin is tall Chelsea made the table higher than normal. Now, all her work has paid off as the table is a grand champion—giving her one purple ribbon.
Chelsea then won two purple ribbons with her art work. Ironically, she did not actually enter the artwork herself. Unbeknownst to her, her father, Kelly, entered the pieces in her name. He said he knew they were good, very good. He was right: they were purple ribbon winners—"the best."
One art piece is titled "Johnny Cash." It is a collage of sketches featuring this legendary country musician. The work aptly show the lines of Cash's face and reveals much about the man inside.
The second winning artistic work is of an old man's hands using a jackknife to clean under a fingernail. Like faces, hands show character. Chelsea gives credit to the idea behind this sketch to a photograph by Anderson photographer Rick Akehurst.
When she was given the assignment in her art class to do sketches with meaning, Akehurst helped her out. He gave her copies of several of his portraits as possible subjects. One man's hands intrigued her, and she sketched them. Thus came the third purple ribbon.
