Youths add dab of state in D.C.

Arkansas’ 4 congressmen choose art for Capitol display

Raiden Mayo, a student at Siloam Springs High School, was honored Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington. His Curiosity artwork, which features a dragon and a goat, will be viewed by congressmen as well as tourists from around the world.
Raiden Mayo, a student at Siloam Springs High School, was honored Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington. His Curiosity artwork, which features a dragon and a goat, will be viewed by congressmen as well as tourists from around the world.

WASHINGTON -- Though tucked into a corner in the basement of the U.S. Capitol, it's hard to miss the student artwork Arkansas' congressmen picked to be displayed. Look for the one with the dragon and the goat.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Hayley Ham, a student at Fountain Lake High School in Hot Springs, stands by her artwork Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington. Ham is one of four Arkansas youths who won a congressional art contest and whose work will be on display over the next year.

Three of Arkansas' four winners of the 2014 Congressional Art Competition attended a reception at the Capitol on Wednesday. It is up to each House member to decide whether to participate in the contest; all four of Arkansas' members did.

The four works, and hundreds of others, will hang for one year in the tunnel that connects the Capitol with the House office buildings. Hundreds of visitors getting tours from congressional staff members pass the artwork daily, and it is common to see people seek out and photograph the artwork from their state. Congressmen and staff members passing Wednesday slowly perused the works as they went back and forth from the House chamber.

The annual competition is open to students in grades nine through 12. Students submit original paintings, drawings, collages, mixed media, computer-generated art and photographs. Each participating district selects a winner, who receives free airfare to attend the reception in Washington, D.C.

The 3rd Congressional District winner Raiden Mayo, who will be a senior at Siloam Springs High School, used a pen and watercolor to draw Curiosity, featuring a dragon and goat.

He said it originated as a funny drawing in his spare time.

"It kind of developed into something a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be," he said. "It started out as just kind of a playful drawing. You add stuff and it's kind of funny and then it really developed to be kind of a serious, more developed piece."

Mayo said his high school art teacher practically insisted that he enter the piece in the competition.

"He told me that he'd be very disappointed that I didn't, almost told me that I had to," he said.

Mayo said he's drawn his entire life and is excited that visitors will see his work.

"It's pretty crazy, pretty exciting," Mayo said. "It's kind of cool that everybody will be looking at it and it's got my name on it."

Hayley Ham, 18, a recent graduate from Fountain Lake High School in Hot Springs, was the 4th Congressional District winner.

Ham's mixed-media piece shows her ex-boyfriend, Marine Cpl. Brent Moffatt of Mountain Pine, in front of a tattered American flag. She said the piece also came in second in a patriotic art contest.

"It was kind of just to show not just what he has to give up, but also the people that are friends and family [who sacrificed]," she said. "It is definitely a privilege to actually have my stuff up here."

Ham said she hasn't decided what she will do next but hopes it will involve photography.

In the 2nd Congressional District, Aubrey Viereck, who will be a senior at Vilonia High School, won for her work titled Lines Like Life. The portrait was drawn on a clear sheet with black marker.

Staff members in U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford's 1st Congressional District office were not sure if their winner, Greg Szwabowski, 18, a recent graduate of Valley View High School, made the trip to Washington or attended the reception. His piece, titled Pyramids is a collage portrait of a young man whose hands form a steeple.

Metro on 06/26/2014

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