Homepage
Search
CyberSurveys
News Talk
Sports Talk
Lions Talk
Pistons Talk
Tiger Talk
Wings Talk
Car Talk
Tech Talk
Horoscope
Lottery
Michigan's Best
Weather
Staff

Autos
Insider
Auto Show
Consumer
Joyrides
Business
Careers
Census
Columnists
Commuting
Detroit History
Editorials
Metro / State
Livingston
Macomb
Oakland
Wayne
On Detroit
Nation / World
Obituaries
Death Notices
Politics / Govt.
Real Estate
Religion
Schools
Special Reports
Technology

Sports Home
Olympics
Lions/NFL
Pistons/NBA
Red Wings/NHL
Shock/WNBA
Tigers/Baseball
MSU
U-M
More Colleges
Golf Guide
High Schools
Motor Sports
Outdoors
More Sports
Scoreboards

Entertainment
Casino Guide
Movie Finder
TV Listings
Crossword

Homestyle home
Decorating
Food
Gardening
Health
Home Improvement
Home Life
Home Tech
Wine Report

Use of this site indicates your agreement to the Terms of Service (updated 08/09/2001).

Youth
Student's T-shirt design picked up by top firm


By Tenisha Mercer / The Detroit News

Bridget A. Barrett Seniors at Dominican High School, Carmelia Stephens, from left, Salena Gross and Trafina Simole, wear T-shirts designed by Gross that were bought by a top California-based apparel maker. Wearable art        What: Salena Gross, 18, a student at Dominican High School and Academy, had her senior class T-shirt design purchased by IZA Design in Riverside, Calif.    Phone: Call the school at (313) 882-8500.     Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

   A design Salena Gross drew for her Dominican High School and Academy senior class T-shirt has earned the Detroit teen national attention.
   IZA Design, an apparel maker in Riverside, Calif., liked Gross' illustration of three African-American women locking arms so much that it purchased rights to the drawing in December. It also hired Gross as a free-lance designer.
   "I was so surprised," said Gross, 18, who draws pictures of women and women's fashions at least once a week. "I was excited that this big company wants to buy my design. I just thought I'd draw the T-shirt and we'd get it made. I never expected this."
   IZA, a school apparel catalogue and T-shirt company, allows schools to draw their own T-shirt illustrations.
   "It was very striking," said IZA President Kerry Takenaga of Gross' work. "We do business with a lot of girls' academies and (her) design fills a niche ... that we didn't have in our design portfolio. She's very talented."
   Gross' art work will be featured on clothing in the company's 2002-03 catalogue. The company paid Gross $100 and deducted $100 from the cost of her class' T-shirt order. Gross is one of 10 student free-lance artists at the company.
   "It's a nice way to show her gift of creativity," said the school's religion teacher, Marie Schultz, who is also the liaison between Dominican and IZA.
   It took the budding artist just a day to come up with the art work.
   "It was really important that the women be strong and not weak," said Gross, who pored over her younger sister's Archie and Barbie comic books for inspiration. "I didn't want strong to be masculine, because a woman can be strong and beautiful. I wanted the two together."
   So she outfitted the women in feminine clothing. A body suit hugs one woman's frame in the T-shirt. Another wears a cut-off shirt that stops just above the navel and hip-hugger pants. IZA tweaked the design slightly, but nearly all of it is similar to her original drawing.
   "It truly represents the senior class," said Natasha Mohammed, 18, of the design.
   Senior class president Ayesha Langston, 17, agreed.
   "It represents unity," Langston said. "It shows our diversity."
   Gross doesn't get to draw much these days, though. She's busy finishing up her senior classes. She draws when the urge hits, though, and still plans free-lance work with IZA, just as soon as she finds time.
   "I plan to do more designs ... when I go to college," said Gross, who plans to study multimedia graphic design at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.