Explorer May-06-2009

Rachel Childers’ portrait to hang in U.S. Capitol

An Ironwood Ridge High School student has won the grand prize in the Congressional Arts Competition sponsored by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Rachel Childers, a senior, won for her painting “Portrait of Elmer,” a portrait of her grandfather. Childers’ painting is now destined to hang in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for a year. It will hang along with 434 grand prize winners from each of the nation’s U.S. Congress districts.

Childers also won second place in the general painting category for a landscape, “Norwegian Landscape.”

Friends of Western Art supports the Congressional Arts Competition with monetary prizes. This year, 49 prizes were given in eight categories during an awards ceremony Saturday in the performance garden at Tohono Chul Park. Student art work is being displayed in The Gallery at Tohono Chul from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through June 1.

This year marks the 24th anniversary of the Congressional Arts Competition, an event sponsored by the Congressional Arts Caucus. The competition is open to all high school students, and was created to recognize the creative talents of young Americans.

“If this year’s entries are any indication, we have a tremendous amount of artistic talent in Southern Arizona,” said Giffords. “Many of the paintings, drawings and photographs we looked at this year could easily be displayed in a gallery or museum.”

Childers and her parents are receiving plane tickets to travel to Washington, where they’ll attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 24 with all of the winners from each Congressional district.