By Sara Ballenger

Art has opened many doors for Linette Park of Los Altos, including the opportunity to have her art hung in the capital in Washington, D.C. Park won the 2001 Congressional Arts Competition for high school students for the 14th district. This is the 20th year of the competition.

“I really never thought that I could win an award for art,” Park said of her honor. “I got an invitation to go to the Capitol on June 19th and a nice letter.”

Park spent Tuesday in Washington, where she was honored in an official ceremony and had an opportunity to meet with local Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.

“Her imagination coupled with her talent has been recognized,” said Eshoo of Park. “Linette’s work and what she’s achieved speaks volumes about her. I am really proud of her.”

Park’s work, a still life called “Swimming Broken Bugs,” will hang in the tunnel leading to the Cannon House Office Building at the Capitol for one year.

“There is one artwork for each of the 434 congressional districts,” Eshoo said.

“I used pastel and watercolor and color pencil,” Park said of the medium used in composing her winning piece. “It has broken glasses, which is all wrapped around a piece of cloth. It looks like the cloth is moving.”

Park has had a lifelong love of art.

“They drew everywhere,” said her mother Michelle of Park and her twin sister Eleanor. “They drew on my beautiful armchair with a pencil when they were two or three.” Michelle encouraged her daughter’s love of art when she saw how successful she was in Mr. Wada’s art class at Los Altos High.

“Mr. Wada has encouraged her to spend more time with art. I am so glad he’s teaching her,” Michelle said.

In fact, it was Wada who encouraged Park to enter the contest.

“She has been in my class the last two years,” Wada said. “The art piece she submitted (for the contest) came out of Section 3 of the Advanced Placement portfolio requirement for my AP art studio class next year.” Park’s piece was a study in combination of drawing, color combination and design, he said.

While at the Capitol, Park will have an opportunity to see the other winning pieces from all over the country. Wada hopes Park will come away inspired.

“I hope she will make some comparison about what she’s done,” Wada said. “I hope she will examine the better artworks that have been executed by other high school students and gauge where she’s at and what she needs to do to go on.”

Park is definitely interested in seeing how other high school students use art as a form of self expression.

“Being a high school student, you’re still exploring yourself and everything,” Park said of her art. “I’ll be doing this kind of modernism style one minute and then maybe I’ll be imitating an impressionistic or still life.”

Among her favorite artists are Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollock. Her favorite piece of her own work was inspired by Pollock.

“I imitated Jackson Pollock’s action painting style and I did a splatter painting of that,” Park said.

One of Park’s paintings has a portrait of Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler that Park drew in pencil. Around that is a frame of black paper with splatter painting over the piece.

“When people see this, they’re like, ‘Oh my god, are you OK? Are you angry?’ I just thought it was a cool picture and a cool style of painting,” she said.

Park, who will be a senior next year, is not sure what she wants to study in college, but she knows that she will continue with her art.

“I just really enjoy the whole process,” she said of creating art. “The great thing about art is that art is everywhere,” she said.