Hinsdale Central Student Wins Congressional Art Competition

Stephanie Lenchard-Warren didn’t plan on winning the “An Artistic Discovery” Congressional Art Competition, especially considering she didn’t even enter it.

“I actually didn’t know about it,” the 17-year-old student said in an interview with Patch. “My art teacher, Ms. [Laura] Milas, put in everybody’s pieces. They were like the first pieces we had done for the semester.”

Not only did Lenchard-Warren’s work—a portrait of her brother Jonathan entitled, “His Veiled Texture”—earn top honors among the Hinsdale Central entries in the contest, it bested 51 other entries from seven different high schools to claim the top prize overall.

U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R-Hinsdale) announced the winners earlier this month in an awards ceremony at the .

“This year, we received more artwork than ever before,” Biggert said. “I have been sponsoring the Congressional Art Competition for 12 years, and each year, I am amazed by the remarkable level of talent and creativity these young students possess.”

Lenchard-Warren’s painting will be on display for one year in the U.S. Capitol. She will join other young artists from around the country for an awards ceremony this month in Washington, D.C.

Milas did inform the students in her advanced painting class that she had entered their artwork in the competition, but Lenchard-Warren still wasn’t expecting to hear she had won.

“I got a call from Judy Biggert’s office one day saying that I won first place,” she said. “I was pretty surprised. Like I said, it was one of the first pieces we did and it was more like an exercise to experiment a little and have a little fun, so I never would have thought it would win.”

That doesn’t mean her victory was a fluke. Even the casual observer can see the talent and dedication that went into the creation of “His Veiled Texture.”

“Stephanie’s beautiful acrylic piece of her brother’s portrait perfectly captured the strong and complex anatomy of the human face,” Biggert said. “The texture, metal sheen, and striking color highlighted her exceptional talent.”

“Even though it was only experimental, I always put a lot of thought into whatever I do,” Lenchard-Warren said. “Ironically, my younger brother, who’s a freshman, is thinking about going into politics. So when I was doing the piece—because there’s a lot of shadows—it was kind of about him exploring himself and exploring his interests and beginning to express those interests and really develop his own views and aspirations.”

The next Monet or Mamet?

Lenchard-Warren didn’t hesitate when asked if art has always been a passion for her.

“Oh, definitely,” she said. “Ever since I was a kid. It just kind of happened. I was always into creating and playing around with materials.”

She said she hopes to continue that creative process after high school.

“I want to go to college and study art and creative writing,” she said. “I want to be an artist and a writer.”

She’s already had some collegiate experience. Lenchard-Warren received a scholarship last summer to take a college-level course at the Art Institute of Chicago, which has helped her define her artistic tone.

“I usually like to mix realism with more of an abstract point of view,” she said. “I’m a very emotionally driven and conceptually driven person, so I like that to be apparent through the style.”

As far as writing goes, Lenchard-Warren said poetry and creative non-fiction are the genres she prefers.

“I’ll be getting more into that next year,” she said, “because I’m taking Honors Seminar.”

One of her non-fiction works, “Eyes Against a Black Canvas,” recently was selected for inclusion for publication in The Best Non-Fiction Writing: Hinsdale Central, which will be published next fall.

School Board recognition

Lenchard-Warren, the daughter of John Warren and Deb Lenchard of Hinsdale, was honored at the last School Board meeting.

“It was really nice,” she said. “A lot of times, art isn’t really appreciated too much. … Just the fact that people are taking the time … even with the competition itself, to acknowledge aspiring artists, I think is a really great thing.”

The Congressional Art Competition is a nationwide contest which provides members of Congress a chance to showcase the artistic talents of high school students from their districts. Since its inception in 1982, more than 650,000 students have participated.

Although she didn’t actually enter the contest herself, Lenchard-Warren expressed the belief that any opportunity to raise art awareness is worthwhile.

“Anybody can learn a lot by looking at art, not only about society or about the artist, but they can maybe realize something about themselves, too.”