More than 30 young artists took part in this year’s Congressional Art Competition at FastFrame Valencia, hoping to earn a spot for their work in the nation’s Capitol. Winning the coveted spot is a Valencia High School junior, Lindsey Bos (pictured), whose self-portrait “A Bird’s Eye View” will hang in the Cannon Tunnel Gallery, representing the 25th Congressional District.
Following the theme “An Artistic Discovery,” the entries, which came from all over the area represented by Congressman Buck McKeon, included landscapes, portraits, collages and photographs of all sorts of subjects. The entrants were all high school students living in the district.
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“It’s mixed media actually,” Bos said. “I took a self-portrait done in charcoal, actually took a picture of that and scanned it into the computer and did a kind of digital rendering in Photoshop with it and worked with a lot of layers.”
The portrait includes one of Bos’s favorite Biblical quotes, from Deuteronomy 34, that she feels “speaks for a lot of people when they’re not in a good place.”
“It’s a quote I had written on a chalkboard in my room,” she explained. “I wanted to put something in there that really meant something to me.”
The Valencia junior hopes to study graphic arts and has her hopes pinned on two East Coast colleges, including Carnegie Mellon.
Bos and her parents will be flown to Washington D.C. for an honors ceremony with all the other winning artists. Her work will be part of a year-long display in the Cannon Tunnel Gallery, through which visitors and legislators travel to go between office buildings and the Capitol itself.
Judging the competition, held at FastFrame in Valencia, were various artists and dignitaries, including Jeff Barber, Arts and Events Supervisor for the City of Santa Clarita and KHTS “Thursday Matinee” host Paul Strickland, who also serves on the Hart District Governing Board.
The judges began with the aim of selecting five finalists, but could not agree on just five, ending up with six finalists, including the winner. The finalists, in no particular order, include:
“Let The Sun Shine Through,” photography, Pauline Mikhail, 12th grade, Highland High School in Lancaster,
“Simple Pleasures,” water color, Elizabeth Patz, who is home-schooled in Lancaster,
“Adolescence,” ink wash portrait, Kate Coughlin, 11th grade, Valencia High School,
“We Are the Future,” colored pencil, Richard Pineda, 11th grade, West Ranch High School, and
“The Great David and Alexander,” oil on clay board, Daniella Garcia, 11th grade, Lancaster High School in Lancaster.
Bos had some words of encouragement for other budding artists who might just be trying their hands at the craft or those who have been at it for awhile.
“Go for it, put yourself, your personality into your work and do what reflects you the most,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to put your pieces into competitions like this. I was stunned. Everyone interprets your work differently.”
Five original finalists’ works and a copy of Bos’s portrait will be placed on display in the Town Center Art Space next to Sicily restaurant at the Westfield Valencia Town Center tomorrow with an artist’s reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 16. Entries will be on display until October 1.