THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 31, 1995 TAG: 9503310175
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Teresa Annas, Staff writer
LENGTH: Long : 166 lines
By Sunday, the work of 90 young artists will be on display in downtown Norfolk.
Through Student Gallery, a regional high school art competition, works by Hampton Roads juniors and seniors will be exhibited at The Chrysler Museum and at Crestar Bank Gallery.
The work of 61 finalists will be shown at the Chrysler, where $2,800 in cash prizes will be awarded on Sunday. An exhibit of work by 29 honorees opens tonight at Crestar Bank.
Each of these artists has traveled far in the development of their talents as sculptors, photographers, painters or printmakers.
Some traveled farther than most.
Young Kim, 17, moved from her native Korea to Norfolk, partly to study art. Croatian Vladimir Pajkic, 19, came to Norfolk this year as an exchange student. Angelou Guingon, 17, immigrated to Virginia Beach from The Philippines with his family. Natalie Gokhman, 18, who came to Virginia Beach from Russia in 1992 after the murder of her grandfather and a girlfriend.
Each of these four artists shared their thoughts on life and art in a strange land.
Natalie Gokhman, 18
Tallwood High School, Virginia Beach
When I came (to the United States in mid-1992), I didn't speak English. My father and brother came a year earlier. My parents are divorced. My mother is still in Russia.
She let me go because it was getting too dangerous there. My friend got killed. And my best friend got raped. I just found out my brother's best friend got killed, too.
My father came because his father got murdered in his house. By whom? We don't even know. Police doesn't work so well in Russia.
I am from Machachkala in the republic of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea. It is all Muslim and I am Jewish. You couldn't even wear anything open or short. No pants. It's different in Moscow.
I was drawing since I was a little kid. I remember kids would wait in line for me to draw pictures of princesses for them. When I was 15, I got accepted into the government art school.
When I first started in that school, I couldn't paint with watercolors at all. They had some strong kids in art there, and I was kind of jealous. So I stayed late and worked extra hours.
I became the best in watercolors. I started to excel after four months.
I like it here, but it was harder in Russia. If the teacher doesn't like something, they have them redo it. Here, they wait for you to get to it. They don't make you upset about your work here. Sometimes, that's not good.
I couldn't sell anything in Russia. People from college don't sell their art work in Russia. We don't have the galleries like here. And nobody buys un-famous people's work. So when I came, I thought, ``Wow! I can sell my work!''
I have worked with oils, but I like watercolor the best. My art teachers asked me if I want to put my work in (Tallwood's) main office. So I did, and I sold there. Almost every teacher (at Tallwood) has my work. That's so funny!
Some of them say, ``One day, you'll probably get famous.''
I like to paint still lifes - pots and fruits, different things. I know it so well now. I know where to put the paint. And I know people love my work.
It represents a happy life. I don't want to paint things that make me feel bad. I don't want to paint what happened in Russia.
Vladimir Pajkic, 19
Maury High School, Norfolk
I am from Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. My parents are divorced and I have been living with my mother.
Nothing's going on in Zagreb. It's in other parts. In Zagreb, there were like some air raids, minor destruction. Nothing big. My mom is safe there.
I came here in September as an exchange student for one year. My representative . . . put me here in Governor's School for the Arts. He thought I had artistic talent.
I paid $3,900 to be an exchange student. My grandparents gave me the money. It's really, really expensive. But, being here, I have a relatively good opportunity to get in college here. I have pretty good academics.
When I came, I was pretty intense to complete my portfolio (to send to universities with architecture schools). I did etchings, monotypes, drawings. That's mostly what I do. I don't do a lot of colors. Most of my work is observational.
Then I stopped working so much. Now I work for my own pleasure.
In Croatia, I took studio art classes at a sort of art center. Nothing really serious.
So this is my only year of doing art seriously. So far, so good. Who knows? It's always just pure coincidence. Even the fact that I'm here at all, pure coincidence . . . I don't feel I have control of my life.
It's like a Greek destiny: Do whatever comes.
Angelou Guingon, 18
Bayside High School, Virginia Beach
When I was in Philippines, I lived in an unpopulated rural area, deep in the woods. It's about a two hours' drive south of Manila.
When I first went to a city, I was very amazed - by the buildings, by people. Like a new world. So much to see. Of course, a lot of people recognize me as an innocent person.
When I was (home), it was hard. I slept on a blanket on a hard floor. Now, I think it was paradise. If I could go back, I would. But I can't. You gotta follow the flow of time.
I came here when I was 15. My father was already here for seven years. Now my mom and dad are here together, and I have a sister in Chesapeake.
In Philippines, art is never taught. I taught myself art. My talent is not natural. But, because I love doing it, that is what developed my talent. My passion for it.
I used to read a lot of books about other artists. I read about their views about life, the meaning of life and art. I think that helped me to become philosophical. I believe that art is everything you see. Even the environment: It's God's art. There is no limit. Even we are art.
The mixed media paintings I entered (for Student Gallery) are self portraits. One of them represents my youth, not wanting to grow up.
In the other, I was trying to express my life as an immigrant - how I was isolated from my friends when I moved here to the U.S. It shows a muscular guy bent over.
The muscles represent that I am trying to do something hard.
Young Kim, 17
Norfolk Christian High School
I came here by myself in January of 1994. I wanted to move here to study art and all the academic stuff. People in small country, they always admire a big country.
My parents are in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. My dad is a civil engineer who works for the government, so we did a lot of moving around.
I'm influenced a lot by moving. If you go to a new place, you have to be kind first to the new people. Then you get close. That made my personality more outgoing.
In art classes in Korea, we do everything, just like here. Paint, draw, use clay. Here, there are fewer students and school supports almost everything. In Korea, we had to provide everything for ourselves.
In Korea, we do more still lifes of things that you can see, like plastic figures. Here, they sometimes ask us philosophical stuff. We have to think. It is very hard.
(For Student Gallery), we chose what we wanted to paint. My art teacher brought in a French horn . . . . I made ``Still Life with Warm Colors'' (with French horn) and ``Still Life with Cool Colors'' (with violin). You can see my brushwork, my brushes working.
I wanted to have some thoughts in my work, so that when you see my French horn or violin, you can hear some songs of horn or violin. And I put in a summer dress and some daisies, my favorite flower. So you feel you are on the beach, the wind and skirt blowing. MEMO: STUDENT GALLERY '95
What: Exhibit by 61 finalists
Where: The Chrysler Museum, Olney Road and Mowbray Arch, Norfolk
When: Opens Sunday; through May 7
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday 1 to 5
p.m.
How much: Free
Call: 664-6200
What: Exhibit by 29 honorees
Where: Crestar Bank Gallery, 500 Main St., Norfolk
When: Opens tonight; through May 5
Hours: Weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
How much: Free
Call: 624-5492
Student Gallery, in its 23rd year, is sponsored by Crestar Bank and
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Tamara Voninski, Staff
Young Kim, Vladimir Pajkic, Natalia Godhman, Angelou Guingon
Photos of Student Gallery entries
by CNB