Fairfax teenager wins congressional art contest
If Samuel Lopez¡¯s portray ¡°Boy in a Blue Mask¡± evokes the plight of college students enduring the isolation and anxiousness of the pandemic, Lopez prepared it that way.
¡°I wanted to explain to people today not to be frightened of the coronavirus,¡± stated Lopez, 17, of Fairfax, who done the watercolor on brown paper for his art course at Terra Linda High College in San Rafael.
The painting won to start with position previous thirty day period in the 2nd Congressional District art contest overseen by U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman. It will be shown for a year at the U.S. Capitol with will work by other district winners close to the country.
Lopez and his family members will be invited to Washington for a reception.
¡°Congratulations to Samuel for this accomplishment,¡± mentioned Huffman, D-San Rafael. ¡°His resolve is over and above nearly anything I¡¯ve seen in my time holding this level of competition.¡±
Lopez, who will get started his senior yr in August at Archie Williams Higher College in San Anselmo, has innovative muscular dystrophy. The issue has twisted his muscle groups and shut off his ability to shift or converse evidently.
Lopez desires enable holding a pencil or paintbrush in his arms, which are curved sideways, or modifying the situation of the canvas. He performs from his wheelchair.
¡°When he demands a various coloration, I display him all the paints and he tells me which one particular he would like,¡± claimed Jenny Gortinsky, Lopez¡¯s total-time nurse.
While his speech is rather garbled, Lopez is understood by?Gortinsky and his mom Morena Lopez. He speaks Spanish and English.
¡°He is ready to discuss, but he is challenging to fully grasp,¡± Morena Lopez claimed. Her son calls for 24-hour treatment to monitor his respiration and manage ideal oxygen stages with a device, she claimed.
Lopez attended all his courses effectively on the internet about the earlier 12 months, but he necessary some assist to use the iPad mini, his mom explained.
When his artwork teacher, Katy Bernheim, study the course the Pablo Neruda poem ¡°Ode to My Socks,¡± Lopez made an evocative painting identified as ¡°Shark Socks,¡± an picture of two legs with sharks at the toes.
Bernheim also inspired ¡°Boy in a Blue Mask.¡±
¡°His artwork teacher informed him a whole lot of men and women have been dying from the pandemic,¡± Morena Lopez stated. ¡°He needed to do a thing to tell men and women not to fret.¡±
Lopez¡¯s resolve to continue on with his artwork by way of the pandemic ¡°is a impressive instance of what it implies to be resilient and triumph over even the most daunting hurdles,¡± Huffman claimed.
¡°Students from across the Second District all shown a related fortitude and fantastic inventive talent in the deal with of remaining separated from the classroom and their peers in excess of the previous 12 months,¡± he mentioned.
The congressional district consists of Marin, Mendocino, Sonoma, Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte counties. Other winners in the competition involved Songe Kvinsland of Mendocino Group High College, Kate Chuidian of Windsor Superior Faculty and Fiona McNiel of Academy of the Redwoods in Eureka.
The successful compositions are posted online at .
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