Seneca Illustration Student Wins Society of Illustrators Award 2025

Seneca Illustration student Dani Tagle was selected by the Society of Illustrators to receive the $1000 Ted Lewin Scholarship Award. Dani’s work, Bolivian Cholita Climber, will be featured in the Society’s 2025 printed catalogue and exhibited in New York City from May 7th to June 7th. The artwork is one of 186 works selected from over 4500 submissions. 

Bolivian Cholita Climber pays homage to the Cholita Climbers, a group of Indigenous, Aymara women from Bolivia. The Cholita Climbers, or Las Cholitas Escaladoras, show pride in their heritage and break stereotypes by climbing the highest mountains in traditional clothing. Dani’s work captures the strength and determination of these women who confront challenges head-on.

The work was created as a part of the Illustration diploma sculpture course. The sculpture course, led by Ted Hamer, introduces students to the process of creating three-dimensional sculptural figures and environments for illustrative storytelling. Once the compositions were complete, students photographed their dioramas, emphasizing colour, lighting, and perspective to effectively convey the narrative being told.

Mixed media: sculpey, wire, MDF wood panel, polystyrene, acrylic, fabric

The scholarship award was named after Ted Lewin, an American illustrator and author of children’s books. Alongside his wife and fellow illustrator, Betsy Lewin, the two worked together to create children’s books based on their exotic travels and wild adventures around the world.

Congratulations to Dani! 

Images Courtesy of Dani Tagle.

Dani Tagle is a Latinx non-binary multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. View more of their work here: https://www.instagram.com/_darkcyan_/