
DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997              TAG: 9704090184

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

SMITHFIELD, FRANKLIN STUDENTS NAMED FINALISTS IN ART SHOWEACH SAYS THAT BEING NAMED A FINALIST WAS GOOD EXPERIENCE FOR THEIR FUTURE ART CAREERS.

Becky was so nervous she could hardly smile but Calvin was beaming with excitement. Becky Martin, a junior at Smithfield High School, and Calvin Wayne Gray II, a junior at Franklin High School, were two of the young artists selected as finalists in this year's Student Gallery.

Becky and Calvin joined the other finalists, parents, art teachers, and guests at an exhibition and awards ceremony held at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk on Sunday.

Artist and art educator Jerry James returned to his native Norfolk to serve as the Student Gallery's final judge and to critique the finalists' work. James, a teacher at New York City's Museum of Modern Art and the Lincoln Center Institute, graduated from Granby High School and Old Dominion University. Congratulating the young artists on their creative diversity and courage he told them ``I am amazed at how progressive you are and how very brave.''

Although neither Becky or Calvin was named a Gallery winner, each felt that being named a finalist was good experience for their future art careers.

``I am excited and surprised to be here, especially after I saw a lot of great work here,'' Calvin said.

Working in oil pastels Calvin had created two untitled portraits of anonymous male figures. Strong colors helped Calvin create images of strength and dignity that defied racial categorization. ``I wanted to create an image that was human but raceless,'' he said. ``An image that you could not place on a certain race.''

Now Calvin splits his time between school, his art, and his other love - soccer. A halfback and forward, he plays both varsity and select soccer. After graduation he hopes to focus on his art, attending an art school and aiming toward a career in commercial art.

Becky's entries, both monotypes, were filled with movement, with swirling black-and-white shadings enlivening her rendering of commonplace subjects, a traffic light and a rubber ducky sitting next to a bathtub drain.

``The rubber duck just popped into my head and then I thought of his surroundings,'' she said, adding that the traffic light idea came from a magazine when she was desperate for a subject.

Becky, who also attends The Governor's Magnet School for the Arts, is aiming for a career in art therapy.

Student Gallery '97 marks the 25th anniversary of the project that is jointly sponsored by the Virginian Pilot and Crestar Bank, with the assistance of the Chrysler Museum. More than 600 students from all over Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore entered the Gallery with 29 being named honorees and 60 selected as finalists.

Honorees, whose work will be displayed at Crestar's Plaza East office in downtown Norfolk until May 9, included: Shannon Horton of Lakeland High School, Daniel Lupton and Jennifer Wong of Southampton High School.

Becky and Calvin will have their work displayed, along with the other finalists, at the Chrysler Museum through May 11. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MOTOYA NAKAMURA

Becky Martin, a junior at Smithfield High School, entered two

monotypes, including one of a rubber ducky by a bathtub drain.

Calvin Wayne Gray II, a junior at Franklin High School, was among

two Western Tidewater young artists selected as finalists in this

year's Student Gallery. Working in oil pastels Calvin created two

untitled portraits of anonymous male figures. Strong colors helped

Calvin create images of strength and dignity that defied racial

categorization.