Student’s drawing revisits yesteryear in New Prague

She likes to draw and appreciates the unique appearance of downtown New Prague.

Graecyn Helmer combined those two interests into an impressive display of art and ability.

The daughter of Michelle and Anthony Helmer, Graecyn, a fifth-grader at Falcon Ridge Elementary, submitted a unique pencil drawing of a downtown New Prague streetscape for The New Prague Times’ annual Christmas edition. The Times has been publishing the drawings in the Christmas edition for many years and Graecyn’s drawing caught the attention of the newspaper’s staff.

Students were offered the opportunity to create holiday drawings of their own creation. Looking for something unique, Helmer decided to find something unique to test her skills rather than just any Christmas scene. As a dancer at To The Pointe Dance Academy, she has had many opportunities to examine the downtown New Prague streetscape.

“It was a challenge and I feel like I should do it,” Graecyn said.

Rather than relying solely on her memory, she did a Google search of New Prague and came across an image of Main Street. She scrolled by the photo, checking out several options before settling on it. Though the online image is dated, it offered the 11-yearold artist a challenge. It’s a drive the family has made many times since moving to New Prague in 2012.

“This is the one that really caught my eye,” she said. “This was something I can do to practice my inner artist.”

The challenge was the photo of...

To see more on this story pick up the December 22, 2022 print edition of The New Prague Times.