“You have to look inside to really see the real person and their joys in life,” said SHS sophomore Lincoln Chaney after winning the annual Congressional Art Competition for his piece, “Chameleon.” His painting using oil and ink on canvas depicted a trio of overlapping faceless figures in a color scheme of deep purples, browns and muted lavender, to which Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland commented was her” favorite color palette.” Coast Salish artist and juror, Charles W. Bloomfield, appreciated the faceless aspect of Chaney’s piece sharing that dolls in indigenous cultures lack features so that they remain projectable for the owner; so they can see themselves in the doll.
“This will be hanging in the Washington State section of the US capitol in the tunnel. There are tens of thousands of visitors that we get every year and people literally stop to look at this art collection. When my office give tours, we will stop and talk about this piece,” said Congresswoman Strickland. Chaney and a guest also receive a full paid trip on Southwest airlines and a tour of the Capitol.
This annual competition is open to all high school students within the 10th district and is blindly judged by a panel of professors and artists. The theme given this year was “Joy.” Steilacoom students, and other students in other high schools within the district, submitted multiple works in a variety of mediums ranging from oil painting to photography depicting this theme. Chaney’s work will join the prestige like that of SHS alumni, Kyra Brown, whose piece currently resides in the Capitol art collection.
In addition to Chaney’s win, Steilacoom had someone else to celebrate. “Every now and then I pick another piece to hang in my office,” said Congresswoman Strickland. She chose senior Nora Agosto-Sungino’s painting. Agosto-Sungino’s piece is an oil painting of herself with her sister sitting seaside on a log, gazing at the landscape.
