Local high school senior places top five in Congressional Art Show | News

St. Clair County High School senior Kristen Holland, placed in the top five for district three in the Congressional Art Show with her submission of her digital photograph titled “Through the Pages.”

According to the Congressional Institute website, the annual art competition, “An Artistic Discovery,” is a way for house members to highlight high school students in their district which leads to one student in each district having their art displayed in an exhibit at the U.S. Capitol. 

Kristin Holland’s piece was originally a project for her photography class but turned into more for her as time went on. 

“It grew more into fun,” Holland said. 

Holland took her first art class at St. Clair County High School her freshman year. This year, she has taken an art class again in accompaniment with a photography class. 

With the help of her visual arts teacher, Mary Morrow, Holland’s piece was submitted.

“I didn’t submit it myself but I wanted it to go, and my lovely teacher Miss. Morrow helped me with that,” Holland said. 

Before her piece made it to the top five for the Congressional Art Show, it was selected from the county art show to represent the school system at the State Superintendent Art Show in Montgomery.

Morrow had Holland in two of her classes, art one and photography.

Holland’s piece, which included several different components, was a team effort in some ways. Holland’s classmate and friend, Gavin Bailey, helped Holland with a unique component to the project that included burning part of the project to achieve the outcome Holland wanted. According to Holland and Morrow, Bailey was on standby with a water bucket in case things got out of hand.

“Kristin is very creative,” Morrow said. “Not only is she creative, but she’s determined to see it through.”

According to Morrow, Kristin spent several days getting all of the components together.

“We had to work out all the techniques but she did all the photoshop stuff herself,” Morrow said. “She has an amazing drive to get things completed.”

Holland, who aspires to become a paralegal, hopes to minor in art during college.