“I wanted to make a polar bear with hearts on its scarf. The hearts show love. I added snowflakes for winter and added water because polar bears live in the Arctic.”

Those are the words of student artist Isabella (Izzy) Antes describing her drawing submitted to the mayor’s office this fall.

Every year before the winter holidays, Bellingham Public Schools and the City of Bellingham work together to select artwork to be used as the mayor’s holiday card. Hundreds of winter-themed drawings from one of our 14 elementary schools are submitted to City Hall, where artwork is chosen for the image on the mayor’s cards. Many of the ink drawings submitted depicted the natural world, snow and snow people.

This year the artwork submitted came from Silver Beach Elementary School and included drawings from all grade levels. The mayor’s office selected the polar bear artwork of first grader Izzy and the steaming hot cocoa and snowy window scene of fourth grader Owen Paget.

Owen described his seasonal drawing this way: “When I think of winter, I immediately think of hot chocolate. After I drew the mug of hot chocolate, I thought it would be nice to drink it next to a window while watching it snow outside. So that’s what I drew.”

We appreciate the artistic thoughts behind both drawings selected by the city. Mayor Kim Lund added this thoughtful note to the cards: “As I reflect on my first year as Mayor of Bellingham, I’m grateful for the opportunity to do this noble work in service to my community. Wishing you and yours a holiday season filled with joy and peace.”

In keeping with the snow theme of the drawings, the two artists tell us they have big outdoorsy plans for the winter break themselves.

“I am looking forward to going up to Mt. Baker with my family and friends to go skiing!” Izzy said.

And in a similar vein, Owen reported he’s “mostly looking forward to skiing over winter break!”

Enjoy more Silver Beach wintry drawings by scrolling through the photos above.