April 11, 2008 — Ivanna Eudora Kean High School senior Sharee Miller took first place Friday in this year's Congressional Art Competition with a collage called "Pieces of Me," one of 64 visual art pieces submitted by territory high school students.
Delegate Donna M. Christensen congratulated Miller in an exhibition and ceremony at the V.I. Council of the Arts. The congresswoman said she believes Miller is the first-ever winner of the contest from Kean.
The first-place winners will be flown to Washington, D.C., to participate in a June 25 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the exhibit, where their works will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol building.
"Pieces of Me" is a self-portrait collage made from pieces of paper Miller selected from magazines. She chose the pieces based on their tone, saying that she looked particularly at people's skin. Her goal for the work was "trying to make it as three dimensional as I could," Miller said. She continued, "It's a challenge to make it come forward."
The classroom assignment that resulted in "Pieces of Me" was for a self-portrait from an unusual angle. Miller selected a view that looked down from her forehead, with her eyes peering over the top of her square glasses.
The work took about a week, with effort made both at home and at school. At home Miller said she could concentrate on developing the artwork and put the cleanup on the back burner: "I could make a big mess and clean it up the next day."
"She works really fast," said her mother, Margaret Miller.
Miller said she was under pressure to get the piece finished so she could include it in her college applications portfolio. She has been accepted at Pratt Institute, one of the leading art schools in the United States.
The competition usually results in three winners, but this year there was a tie for third place.
Second place went to junior Lauren Harcrow of the Good Hope School on St. Croix for her pastel "Jazz Musician" featuring a seated man wearing a hat and playing a trumpet.
Third-place finishers were another Kean senior, Ariel Millen, who created the the pastel "Tropical Beauty," and Crucian Cory Bishop, a senior at Good Hope School, for the acrylic on canvas "Jumbies Gone Wild."
Judges for the competition were local artists Chinwe Osaze, Elisa McKay and Shansi Miller.
The exhibit of all 64 entries from the territory will be on display until April 21 at the V.I. Council on the Arts, 5070 Norre Gade, Charlotte Amalie. For more information, call 340-774-5984.
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