Austintown senior's artwork featured in statehouse exhibit

AUSTINTOWN

When people pass through the Vern Riffe Center for Government & the Arts in Columbus, they will see the work of an Austintown Fitch High School senior.

Wendy Liu has had her art recognized before, but she said she was ecstatic when she heard it would be part of the 2017 House of Representatives Student Art Exhibition.

Well, she was eventually ecstatic.

“The sad thing was I was so tired I was just like, ‘Oh, hey. Yeah,’” she said. “But the next morning, I was like so freaking happy I made it.”

The piece, which will represent the 59th House District, is an abstract watercolor painting of a tree consisting of mandala-like patterns. Liu said she incorporated crumpled paper towels and sharpie to lend the piece texture. It was part of her senior portfolio titled “Childhood Dreams” which won a Scholastic Art Gold Key award.

She named the portfolio “Childhood Dreams” because she wanted to be an artist as a child. It also has a second meaning.

“The whole portfolio was based off my imagination,” Liu said. “How things could go leaps and bounds beyond reality, and life could become so much less boring if you just let go every once in awhile and daydreamed.”

Read more about her in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.