A Capitol Achievement: Students earn honors in Congressional Art Competition

Sydney Harris (‘20), left, and Tracy Gwinn (‘19)in the ASMSA Art Studio

A Capitol Achievement

Students earn honors in Congressional Art Competition, including trip to D.C.

Tracy Gwinn’s expectations weren’t very high when she dropped her piece off for the Fourth District Congressional Art Competition.

Gwinn (’19) said other contestants were dropping off their pieces at the same time and several had already dropped off their entries.

“I saw of couple of other pieces when I dropped mine off. They were really good,” Gwinn said.

Fortunately for Gwinn, however, the judges disagreed with her – at least enough to award her first place for her

piece titled “Portrait 2.” The black and white drawing is the portrait of a man she drew during the second semester of her junior year.

“I worked on it in my free time initially, but I turned it in as an assignment for my capstone project,” she said. “Everyone really liked it. I compared it with my other pieces. It was in my top 3. I like the details I got on his face.”

The portrait is inspired by a drawing she saw online. She doesn’t know the subject.

“I prefer not knowing the subject. If I do know them, I’m always extremely critical and think that it doesn’t look like them. Not knowing them gives me a little bit of leeway,” she said.

“Tracy is a very independent student — very self-motivated and highly skilled in both representational art and pure design,” said Brad Wreyford, an ASMSA art instructor. “From the moment Tracy set foot on campus, it was clear she had creativity and craftsmanship to win a competition such as this.”

The Fourth District Congressional Art Competition winners were announced in May. It is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman and is part of the larger national Congressional Art Competition. A second ASMSA student also placed in the competition. Sydney Harris, a junior from North Little Rock, placed fifth.

First-place winners are selected from each U.S. congressional district. Their artwork is then displayed for a year in a hall at the U.S. Capitol.

“Knowing that my piece will be hanging in the Congressional Hall in the Capitol where congressmen walk every day is really exciting,” Gwinn said.

Gwinn had an opportunity to see exactly where her portrait hangs in the Capitol during a trip to Washington, D.C. . All of the winners received an invitation to the nation’s capital for a reception and other events. The trip was held June 22-26.

Fourth District U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman showed her where the Arkansas winners’ pieces are displayed in the hallway leading to the Capitol.

Westerman told the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette that he was impressed with the caliber of artwork submitted for the contest.

“I’m glad I get other people to judge it because I don’t know if I could ever pick a winner.’ We get so many great pieces that come in,” he said in the newspaper’s July 1 issue.

Gwinn also gave her approval of the artwork displayed in the hallway. She told the Democrat- Gazette that “It’s absolutely amazing. I’m really impressed with all of this stuff.”

Her mother is went on the trip with her. In addition to visiting the Capitol, they visited the Smithsonian Institution.

“I’m still in shock by it. This is a really cool opportunity,” Gwinn said.

Gwinn will enroll at the Savannah School of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga., this fall. She will study animation, leaning toward 2D animation.

“There are a lot of jobs in 3D animation, but I love character animation. I grew up watching a lot of cartoons when I was little, and I still love animated movies,” she said.

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