Legacy Art Students Support Each Other and Shine

Legacy art students Erica Papp ’22 and Cortlyn Plunk ’23 are the latest visual artists to bring home honors from the Congressional Art Competition, a nationwide event that encourages artistic creativity in high schoolers. Since its launch, in 1982, more than 650,000 high school students have participated.

Earlier this year, Erica and Cortlyn competed with students from other private schools and from public schools, along with homeschooled students, in the 26th Congressional District, represented by Cong. Michael Burgess, MD. Erica’s entry was awarded “Best of School,” as the favorite submitted by Legacy students, and Cortlyn’s entry received “Juror’s Choice for Creativity,” a discretionary award presented by jurist Sharon Warwick in recognition of artistic merit.

Anne Blackburn, a Legacy art teacher, says she was impressed by the unique angle and lighting considerations Erica implemented in her drawing, titled Le debut D’une Ballerine. At 18"x24", this is the largest piece — and the one that required the most time and effort to create — that Erica had attempted.

“I was ultimately inspired by a pair of ballet shoes I used as a practice sketch one day,” she says. “The original plan for this piece was toys mainly used for children, but when I saw those shoes, I fell in love. As a child, I always adored ballet even though I was not and still am not flexible or graceful enough to be a ballerina myself. Through this piece, I was able to bring to life my childhood dream.”

Mrs. Blackburn says she received numerous comments from friends and colleagues who were impressed by Erica’s piece. In fact, she says, “Erica was approached by a buyer who saw it on the Congressional Art Competition page and wanted to purchase the artwork for his daughter, who dances professionally.”

Cortlyn Plunk received her award for a watercolor she titled A Vintage Still Life. Mrs. Blackburn encouraged Cortlyn to tackle a watercolor in order to achieve the particular style she was looking for, despite the fact that watercolor is not her usual

medium. Cortlyn began with the assertion that she “can’t do watercolor,” but her dedication to her art was obvious to her instructor as well as to the juror. Yes, she can “do watercolor.”

“I decided for my still life that I would do something out of my comfort zone and challenge myself for this project,” Cortlyn says. “ At the time, I seemed to have really bad allergies, so I was taking a lot of medication just to get me through the day. As the deadline loomed, I would get on FaceTime with friends Trinity and Erica, and we would work together on our projects late into the night. Since I had to choose a title to describe the piece and ‘Putting Myself Through a Self-Realization That I Cannot Do Watercolor’ wouldn’t be an appropriate title, I settled on A Vintage Still Life With Lots of Sleepless Nights and Cough Syrup Involved as a fitting title for the first piece of the year in Art 2.”

Both Erica and Cortlyn would like to attend art school, and the girls have developed a camaraderie. Mrs. Blackburn noticed the way they supported each other virtually and wants to encourage them to continue to do so, even if they attend different schools. The girls’ friendship and mutual support “is what it means to build each up as the body of Christ,” their teacher says.