Tooele baby artist’s winning entry a first for Utah State Fair art competition

TOOELE — The family of a Utah State Fair art winner is sharing the surprising story behind the prized paintings they submitted, and it just might be a first for the fair contest.

Perusing 5,000 pieces of unique creations, fairgoers can wander the buildings that house the art competition entries.

Sakura Gallegos, Utah State Fair manager of competitive arts and programs, explained that the artwork is divided into divisions. Judges then pick who places.

“We have all kinds of different art, from woodworking, leather working, to paper art, ceramics, porcelain,” Gallegos said, describing the types of entries around her.

Those who go to the painting section might come across two specific works that are part of one entry. One canvas appears to be an abstract drawing made from a pastel-colored medium, while the other is filled with bright, vibrant paint strokes.

A blue ribbon is attached to the pastel piece, showing that the judges awarded the entry first place.

Gallegos explained she was excited about this pair of paintings, considering the judges had no idea that the Tooele artist who created them was a baby.

“I didn’t realize we had one so young in here, and so I was really surprised,” she said.

That baby, who is technically a toddler by a few months, is Kinsley Muir.

Sitting on her family’s front porch this week, Kinsley looked down at a blank canvas and dropped a bottle of pink paint on it. Mother Jennifer Muir squeezed out the paint, and Kinsley immediately dug in with her hands.

The bright-eyed and smiling 15-month-old squealed and reached for another bottle. “You need more green?” Jennifer Muir asked, grabbing the color for Kinsley.

“She picks out her colors, and she just goes,” Muir said. “Sometimes they’re black and gray, and sometimes they’re colorful.”

She may not yet be talking, but the tiny artist already knows what speaks to her on the canvas.

Kinsley grabbed a paintbrush and dragged it across the canvas in strokes. At one point, she opened a bottle of yellow paint and vigorously dabbed it on top.

As an abstract piece of art took form, Kinsley became more paint-covered by the minute.

At one point, she decided to eat the (thankfully nontoxic) paint, which prompted Muir to direct Kinsley’s hands back down to the canvas and away from taste-testing.

“You’re getting it. Good job!” the mother exclaimed with encouragement.

Muir described how she first noticed Kinsley’s artistic interest when the mother and daughter worked on crafts to make gifts.

Originally, Muir tried making keepsakes of Kinsley’s handprints and footprints. But Kinsley had other plans with the paint, so Muir let her take the reins.

“We were going to make other stuff with the canvases, and she decided that she was going to do her own thing,” Muir said. “And that’s where it came from.”

The mom said it was grandma’s idea to enter Kinsley’s creations into the Utah State Fair arts competition in the child category.

Gallegos explained that this year, they updated the fair competition book and removed the minimum age of three-years-old so that, “even younger kids can enjoy doing art, and entering it.”

“I think kids are creative at a young age,” Gallegos said. “They love to draw, they love to color, and scribble.”

That rule change allowed the toddler to become what Gallegos believes might be one of the youngest winners they’ve ever had in the competition.

“It was super exciting because, I guess you don’t expect it,” Muir said, of her daughter’s blue-ribbon award.

Muir now hopes other parents who see the paintings on display at the fair will feel inspired to explore what their babies can create.

“That they can encourage their kids to be creative and artistic themselves, at any age,” she said.

Kinsley’s artwork is still used for gifts and is perhaps even better than the keepsakes Muir originally set out to make.

“It’s nice to be able to have something that we both like to do,” Muir said. “And it’s fun to see how she gets her different creativeness.”