NOGALES HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WINS CONGRESSIONAL ART COMPETITION
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis (CA-32) announced the winners of this year’s 32nd Congressional District Artistic Discovery Competition at the Rosemead Community Center in front of more than 400 students, parents and teachers.
1st Place – Nika Banzuela, Nogales High School: “Unbound”
"Unbound" is the name of a work of art, that Nika Banzuela a Nogales High School Senior created as part of her One Woman Show, which won 1st place on Friday night May 2nd at the Honorable Hilda L. Solis’s “7th annual Artistic Discovery Congressional Art Competition”. As 1st place winner Nika received a $1,500 scholarship from Congresswoman Solis and a $3,000 scholarship from Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah Georgia. Also Congresswoman Solis will fly Nika and her parents to Washington D.C. in June for a 3 day 2 night expenses paid tour and the Congressional Celebration entitled “An Artistic Discovery” where this acrylic painting will be hung with the 1st place winners from each of the congressional districts in the Cannon Tunnel for one year, where over 3 million people will see it.
Nika has already been accepted to Otis College of Art and Design in LA and is planning to apply to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. All three schools rank in the top 10 art colleges of the Untied States. When asked about her win, Mr. Ellison her International Baccalaureate Art Higher Level Studio Art teacher said, “Now the art schools are going to have to start competing with how much in scholarships they are willing to give her to see which school gets this phenomenal young artist. Former students of mine who have done this scholarship bidding have gone to art school with either near or full ride scholarships.” When Mr. Ellison told her parents where Savannah College of Art and Design was located they responded “Georgia!” So Mr. Ellison told them with a laugh, “That it is time they do what Nika’s painting is about and let this sparrow free to fly into her future.”
The annual Congressional arts contest was established by Members of Congress in 1982, and since then Members have conducted local art competitions in their districts.