THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603180187
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
Artist Ryan Ellison was ``the buzz'' at Student Gallery '96. You could tell by the way fellow students treated him, and how even other kids' parents photographed his paintings.
``Ryan is excellent,'' raved Jameelah Harvey, a fellow art student at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake.
``The whole school takes pride in him.''
Ellison, a senior, was one of 543 area high school students who brought their art to Norfolk on Saturday for Student Gallery preliminaries.
Open to any junior or senior living in Hampton Roads, the daylong exhibit drew more than 1,000 visitors, including art teachers, artists, friends and family members.
Scope exhibition hall was a field of chicken wire, with row after row of prints, photos, sculpture and paintings. There was less of an emphasis on in-your-face social comment than in recent years.
Diversity of expression reigned, from an assemblage of sheet music and bird wings to a clay sculpture of figures climbing atop one another.
The huge, open room gyrated with grunge guys, and girls wearing Army boots with mod '60s minidresses and carrying orange plastic purses. A lot of raven dyed hair.
Ellison had the black, stringy hair, and he had that slouched, thrown-together look.
Later that day, Ellison would win the Student Choice award, voted on by his peers. And he would become one of 60 finalists selected to show at The Chrysler Museum of Art next month.
But he didn't know these things yet. He was struggling to describe his art.
``I am definitely a visionary artist,'' said Ellison, basing his statement on the metaphysical aspects of his work.
His two paintings on view were from an untitled series of 14 images that illustrate a story he wrote.
One crisply rendered painting shows a little girl hiding under a chair; a second, larger painting shows the girl surrounded by angels at the gateway to paradise.
The tale begins as the girl is hiding in the kitchen. But she is found by a man who drags her into a bedroom and throws her down. At that point, ``the bed turns into water, and she drowns in the bed.''
Some boating angels fish her out of the water with a net and ``they lift her up to heaven. And the angels are really happy - but somber, too. They know where she's come from, and they know it isn't really her time to die,'' Ellison said.
The story has intrigued his fellow students, who have enjoyed debating what actually happened when the girl drowned in the bed. Ellison acknowledged the image was a device to suggest incest by a relative.
He knew a girl once who experienced such a horror, and he's known other kids who were child abuse victims.
``It's like living a nightmare,'' he said.
``I felt this would be a pretty powerful story to tell, instead of doing flowers and birds.''
Area art experts selected 29 honorees and 60 finalists. Art by the finalists will be exhibited April 14 through May 19 at The Chrysler Museum of Art; honorees' art will be displayed April 12 through May 17 at Crestar Bank Gallery.
The 24-year-old competition is sponsored by Crestar Bank and The Virginian-Pilot. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Janice Wallis and her daughter, Christina, age 6, from Chesapeake,
look at a headless sculpture at Scope exhibition hall where Janice's
son, Aaron, was one of 543 area students displaying art works in
Student Gallery '96.
Graphic
WINNERS OF STUDENT GALLERY '96 PRELIMINARIES
VIRGINIA BEACH
Finalists: Stephanie Green, Christina Sneed, Flajeeza Sawyer,
Laura Hilton, Cary Shurtz, Jennifer Gellasch, Isabel Hendrix*, Cox
High; Deaner K. Lawless III*, Kempsville High; Carmelita Solomon,
Michael Thomas, Catholic High; Ben Edwards*, Todd DeFord*, First
Colonial High; Joshua Frakes, Chris LeCount*, Bayside High; Michael
Campagna, Desiree Morningstar, Salem High; Oscar Fajardo, Green Run
High; Atom McLean*, Tallwood High; Allan Tuazon, Princess Anne High;
Michele Rosenberger, Ocean Lakes High.
Honorees: Kenny Radford, Margaret Schults, Ashley Howell, First
Colonial High; Matt Joy*, Rob Choi, Jason Sutton, Cox High; Regina
Ferebee, Bayside High; Michael Younger, Kempsville High; Marjorie
Castillo, Princess Anne High; Jeffrey Dromeshauser, Salem High.
NORFOLK
Finalists: Bo Moon, Noel Celeste Diehl, Norfolk Christian High;
John Navarro Guanlao*, Latoya Butcher, Booker T. Washington;
Christina Sarvis, Vaughn Bell*, Christina Walker, Jessica Morgan
Koch, Daymen Robinson, Granby High; Allison Zedd, Maury High.
Honorees: Samantha Harvey, George Tanthus, Granby High; Anne
Costa*, Ember Dawson, Amie Weisberg, Maury High.
CHESAPEAKE
Finalists: Jesse Lilley*, Todd Moy*, Brandon Vertz, Western
Branch High; Brant Powell, Ryan Ellison, Kit Wilgus, Lisa Hampton,
Nathaniel Powers, Great Bridge High; Amir Shabazz, Nelah Barcarse,
Indian River High; Damion Williams, Oscar Smith High.
Honorees: Wilton Taylor, Western Branch High; Joe Ridley*, Indian
River High; Dan Simmons, Oscar Smith High; Antoine Cooper, James
Turner, Great Bridge High.
FRANKLIN/SUFFOLK/ISLE OF WIGHT/PORTSMOUTH
Finalists: Daniel C. Pruden*, Smithfield High; Ryan Dixon*,
Windsor High; Geraint Krumpe, Crystal Glisson, Nansemond Suffolk
Academy; Brian Risi, Churchland High and Churchland Visual Arts
Magnet Program; Jeff Malota, Churchland High and Portsmouth Magnet
School for Visual Arts; Marty Duke, Franklin High; Jequan Parker*,
Wilson High; Jonathan Christopher Ark, Churchland High.
Honorees: Steven Freedman*, Norcum High; Bonnie L. Benn, Nicole
DiTommaso, Churchland High; Jessica Turner*, Windsor High; Daniel
Upton*, Southampton High.
PENINSULA
Finalists: Derrik Ham, Hampton Christian High; Timothy Britt,
Lauralee Christian Riedmiller, Catherine Clouse, Art Magnet School;
Hoang Nguyen, Hampton High.
Honorees: Nicole O. Bowman, Art Magnet School; Rene H. Peniza,
Ferguson High.
EASTERN SHORE
Finalists: Lawrence C. Bonniwell, John Taylor, Kelly R. Hicks,
Chrissy Mason, Fatina Muslimani, Nandua High.
Honorees: Benjamin Brown, Julia Mangin, Nandua High.
THE DUMBFABULOUS AWARD
Todd Moy, Western Branch High
STUDENT CHOICE AWARD
Ryan Ellison, Great Bridge High
* Also attends Governor's School for the Arts
by CNB