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Lawmaker Honors Young Artists

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: January 23, 2008

PORT RICHEY, Fla. - PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Although Hudson High School junior Clint Barga plans on a career in art, he still hasn't quite reconciled with having to part with his creations.

"I usually don't give it away," Clint said, adding that he's even turned down cash offers for some of his art.

But one of Clint's more recent pieces has a found a new home, in State Rep. John Legg's office in Tallahassee, as his entry took first place in Legg's second annual "Art in the Capitol" contest.

"I am sincerely proud of the artistic creativity and talent of these students," Legg stated in a press release. "The entries we received were incredible and choosing a winner from each school was a difficult task."

The contest was open to all students in all grades in West Pasco County. The only stylistic guidelines were that the artwork had to depict a historical fact, event, place, or person in Florida and that it include the school symbol or mascot.

Clint's winning entry depicts an idyllic, natural setting, with animals living in among palm trees, hibiscus and orange trees. In the background, the space shuttle can be seen on its launch pad.

The piece took Clint about a week to do, he said. In some ways, it was a little bit of a departure from his usual style, in keeping with the spirit of the contest. Like most of his compositions, Clint created a scene that is not as concerned with realistic space as it is in creating an alternate, dreamlike reality. The image on the canvas is like a snapshot of that dream world.

The piece Clint created for the contest has that quality. He uses the foliage to frame the scene, and he places the wildlife, including a cobra, the Hudson High mascot, strategically for an overall visual effect.

On the other hand, the piece is much brighter and colorful than is typical of his work.

Justine Sims, also from Hudson High, took third place in the contest. She and Clint have been friends since they were 3 years old. They have literally and figuratively grown together as artists, as is clear when they talked about their respective entries

"We've grown up together, so we've influenced each other in our art," Justine began.

"She does the happy stuff," Clint continued, "and I do more the ..."

"Morbid," Justine finished.

Justine's piece also showed an appreciation and skill at creating images that go for the subconscious rather than a strictly visual recognition.

Justine filled the image with an overhead perspective of the fort at St. Augustine. She did it in such a way that if one is familiar with the design of the fort, they can see it. If not, it's a curious, abstract shape.

She then included several inlaid images of familiar Florida icons.

"When I thought of Florida, I thought of Florida panthers, alligators, the shuttle, of course," Justine said. "I just had fun with it."

Lisa Totolos, a sophomore at Grace Christian School of Pasco, took second place. Her entry was an excellent rendition of an old-fashioned citrus fruit ad, like something one might have found attached to a crate of oranges decades ago.

Amanda Stewart, a legislative aide to Legg, said they were thinking they may want to keep all three to hang in Legg's office.

"We're going to have to take them up there and measure the wall space," she said.

Top finishers

Here are the top finishers in state Rep. John Legg's second annual "Art in the Capitol" contest. Each participating school picked three finalists and submitted their artwork to Legg, R-Port Richey, a charter school teacher, who then picked the first-place winners from each school, and the overall winners. They are listed by school, with the first-place winner from each school indicated.

Gulf High School

Kasse Hays, 12th grade, first place
Kayla Spradling, 10th grade
Nicole Bolchazy, 10th grade

Dayspring Academy

Lauren Thompson, eighth grade, first place
Alysha Blair, seventh grade
Jake Walker, eighth grade

J.W. Mitchell High School

Gabriel Fernandes-DaSilva, 12th grade, first place

Trinity Elementary School

Evan Waterbor, second grade, first place
Madison Schaefer, fifth grade
Brianna Jordan, fifth grade

Genesis School East

Sierra Ray, fourth grade, first place
Elisabeth Beam, fifth grade
Jamie Thon, third grade

Genesis School West

Paige Gilmar, fifth grade, first place
Leah Hodges, fourth grade
John Martin, third grade

Genesis Prep School

Elise Giordano, 11th grade, first place
Parsah Razdar, 11th grade

Grace Christian School of Pasco

Lisa Totolos, 10th grade, first place
Hailee Parks, first grade

Hudson High School

Clint Barga, 11th grade, first place
Justine Sams, 11th grade

Overall winners

Clint Barga, Hudson High School, first
Lisa Totolos, Grace Christian School of Pasco, second
Justine Sams, Hudson High School, third

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TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

west pasco county • stylistic guidelines • launch pad • artistic creativity • school symbol • john legg • realistic space • orange trees • hudson high school • palm trees • space shuttle • annual art • barga • cash offers • dream world • state rep • justine • foliage • compositions • cobra

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