1st Lt. takes 1st place in 433 AW Jay Leno Art Contest Published Aug. 12, 2011 By Senior Airman Luis Loza Gutierrez 433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs SAN ANTONIO -- First Lieutenant Kyle Hermanson, 69th Air Defense Brigade, Ft. Hood, Texas, took first place in the 433rd Airlift Wing's Jay Leno Art Contest, Aug. 6, 2011, at the Kelly Field Club at Port San Antonio. "I attribute my success by allowing myself enough time to make a successful plan and design. Once I have the plan developed, getting it down on the canvas is just autopilot. I see the piece completed before it is even begun," said Hermanson, a two-year active duty Army veteran from Montevideo, Minn. The art contest was hosted by the 433rd Airlift Wing as part of local promotional campaign for Jay Leno's, "Tour for the Troops" performance at Lackland's base operations hangar. "Tour for the Troops," is part of the Air Force Reserve Command's "Get 1 Now," recruiting program. The art contest was open to all Joint Base San Antonio service members and their dependants. The lieutenant first heard about the contest from his wife, Staff Sgt. Allison Hermanson, an Air Force reservist with the 433rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. There were four entrees, and they were all judged during a pre-show reception, where contestants met with Leno and posed for photos next to him and their artwork. "The competition was very talented, however, I was confident that my piece was more developed and more conscious of the intended audience," Hermanson said. Hermanson said it took him to three days to finish the 18 x 24-inch; acrylic and ink piece. "The most difficult aspect of the piece was developing a style that would accommodate a C-5 Galaxy, an AC Cobra 427 replica, and a caricature of Jay Leno, while at the same time placing them in an environment that made sense," added Hermanson, who began making art at age four and earned a bachelor's degree in fine art (summa cum laude) from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2005. Hermanson's winning art piece was later presented on stage by the 433rd AW vice commander, Col. David Hutchinson, as a gift to Leno, who showed off the winning piece to the more than 1,700 people attending the free, hour-long comedic performance. Hermanson said he was pleased about winning the contest and enjoyed meeting Leno, and, "the most enjoyable part of the experience was the opportunity to make a relevant connection between the art world and the military; two very different entities. I feel that I was successful in combining the two, and that is what pleases me most of all."