CREF Celebrates Creativity: 2024 Art Meets Automotive Winners
Originally published at CollisionRepairEducationFoundation.org
Collision repair requires a highly technical skill set…but it also demands a certain amount of creativity and inspiration. Those attributes are precisely what the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) seeks to elicit and celebrate each year with its Art Meets Automotive Competition!
Now in its third year, Art Meets Automotive provided secondary and post-secondary students with an opportunity to design and create a project, demonstrating their talents in painting, sculpting, welding or a combination of all three. The 2024 winning design was Koi-Upstream by Teisha Chambers (McFatter Technical College; Davie, FL).
“This piece represents overcoming the trials in my life,” Chambers explained her inspiration for the project. She recalled hearing everything from “girls can’t be in auto body” to “you’re just not good enough,” but no matter how others tried to discourage her, she “boldly swim[s] upstream.”
In 2024, CREF introduced its first Art Meets Automotive: Instructor Edition, challenging collision repair instructors to “design, create and inspire.” Robert Lynch (Fayetteville Technical Community College; Fayetteville, NC) won the instructor division for his uniquely designed pin.
Lynch’s design was inspired by “the influence of geometric and custom designs from the 70s style and lowrider paint designs.” He explains, “I don’t typically go into a project or design with a concrete plan or design. Many times, when I have tried to go into a paint job with a pre-planned design, it changed because it didn’t seem right for whatever panels or lines were provided on the project.”
Lynch was “surprised to win the first instructor edition of CREF’s Art Meets Automotive Competition. There are many talented instructors out there. I just enjoy creating the art and paint designs that come out of my head. I look forward to competing again next year!”
Over two dozen entries were displayed at CREF’s 2024 Benchmark Grants Awards Breakfast, held during the 2024 SEMA Show, where $536,000 in funds were bestowed upon 80 schools, impacting over 4,000 students training in those programs this year alone. Each attendee received a CREF poker chip, which was used to vote for their favorite design. As everyone ate breakfast, CREF counted the chips to determine which designs received the most votes, and the winners were announced at the end of the event, receiving spray guns – and bragging rights – in recognition of their talents.
“Collision students possess tons of creativity, and the Foundation enjoys showcasing their skills at our annual Art Meets Automotive exhibit,” shares CREF Program Manager Tiffany Bulak. “It’s exciting to see the competition grow with more unique entries each year as students – and now instructors – embrace this opportunity to demonstrate their talents to the entire industry. We can’t wait to see how next year’s entrants will express their imaginations!”
Stay tuned for updates on the 2025 Art Meets Automotive Competition as they become available early next year at CollisionRepairEducationFoundation.org.
Industry members interested in getting involved and supporting the Collision Repair Education Foundation’s efforts to assist secondary and post-secondary collision repair training programs can Contact Us to learn about the many ways to get involved. Monetary donations can be made online.
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The Collision Repair Education Foundation, founded in 1991, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting collision repair educational programs, schools and students to create qualified, entry-level employees and connect them with an array of career opportunities. For information on how to donate to programs supported by the Education Foundation, visit us online at: www.CollisionRepairEducationFoundation.org.
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