http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bradpitt01.html
A hit with Pitt: Actor buys student's painting for $800
June 1, 2004
BY ANDREW HERRMANN Staff Reporter
The Illinois Film Office predicts Hollywood, by filming here, will drop
some $50 million around the state in 2004. Make that fifty million,
eight hundred. Wrigleyville teenager Anna Pamasa picked up the eight
bills of Tinseltown cash recently when her art struck the fancy of actor
Brad Pitt. Pitt, who was in the area filming ''Ocean's 12,'' stopped by
the Museum of Contemporary Art to take a look at feminist sculptor Lee
Bontecou's exhibition. (He was among a parade of celebs to visit the
show, including David Bowie, Michael Caine, Drew Barrymore and Lisa
Ling.) The museum, at 220 E. Chicago, was also exhibiting Chicago high
school artists, participants in the annual All-City Art Exhibition. Pitt
happened to spot Pamasa's work -- two untitled portraits, one of a
friend's grandfather, the other a nude of an overweight woman.
Negotiating through the museum, Pamasa was, at first, a reluctant sell.
"My parents and my teachers have been telling me to keep my paintings
for my portfolio,'' said Pamasa, a senior at Lane Tech who has been
giving away her works to friends as presents. Then MCA told her the
buyer was a certain flaxen-haired heartthrob. Sold! She's a big fan of
Pitt's 1999 movie ''Fight Club,'' a stylish cult film about a secret
society of men who find freedom and fulfillment by beating up each
other. Her first price was $500, but her parents -- her dad is a chef at
Little Quiapo on Clark and her mother is a bank teller -- told her to go
higher. She settled on $800. "Why not? He's a millionaire,'' said museum
spokeswoman Karla Loring. Pamasa will put the money toward next year's
tuition at Columbia College, where she'll study fine arts. Though she
hasn't talked to Pitt yet, her sale sparked a buzz at Lane Tech. "I told
one friend about it and the next day everyone -- even people I didn't
know -- were coming up to me. It was kind of awkward,'' said Pamasa. Her
Pitt sale has added some glamor to her budding career and marks the
first step in her ultimate goal: "I want to make art and get my work
around the world for people to see,'' said Pamasa, who moved to Chicago
from the Philippines in the early 1990s with her parents and brother,
Ryan, 21. The MCA's Loring said the attention is a bonus for the city's
high school art competition. "It's such a neat program. They get to see
their work hang in a museum with established artists like Lee Bontecou,''
said Loring. And sometimes deep-pocketed and appreciative Hollywood
types might see it, too.
NEWS
ART CLASSES CURRICULUM OPTIONS FLYER DOWNLOAD
STUDENT ARTWORK SHOWCASED IN NEW YORK CITY
By Siobhan Lally June 2008 The Warrior, p4
“If I can get just one person to look at the deeper concept behind my work, I have succeeded as an artist,” said Jessica Limardo, Div. 875. Limardo is one of Lane’s five AP Art students whose work earned national recognition from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. The students include Limardo for the category of Art Portfolio, Nina Litoff, Div. 852, for the category of Photography, and Jenna Lennon-Dorn, Div. 852, Heather Skiba, Div. 855, and Lynette Zayas, Div. 869, for the Category of Ceramics & Glass. Each year, more than 77,000 students in grades seven through 12 participate in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Approximately 30,000 of those artists and writers from across the U.S. are given recognition on the regional level and only around 1,000 are invited to travel to New York City for their work to be reviewed at the national level and to have their work displayed in Carnegie Hall.
The students and teachers are excited about the opportunity. “I was really excited, it’s a big honor to have my work at Carnegie Hall,” said Jenna Lennon-Dorn. “The end of the year is getting really busy but when I stop and think, ‘New York’ I really can’t wait.” “I never usually win anything,” said Litoff, “so I was so excited that I finally had received recognition. I was even more shocked when I made it to the National competition. Even the Gold Key, [the highest award at the regional level,] would have been enough satisfaction for me. But getting to go to New York for the ceremony really tops it of.” “I was just really happy to find out I placed so high,” said Zayas. “I was confident in my pieces, but I knew there were others who also worked just as hard as I did, and it’d be a tough competition.” “I was very proud of myself,’ said Limardo. “I have never taken an art class, let alone a sculpture class.” “I’m just so excited for the students who have won national awards and will have a chance to go to New York City,” said Ms. Moore, the AP Sculpture teacher. “This year’s group of art students [are] so talented and creative. But they are not just smart and artistic, [they are] incredibly hard working, too.” Some of the students admit a great deal of time and work was put into their art. “[My] work looks like a whole bunch of bubbles stacked on top of one another,” said Lennon-Dorn. “It only took a little while to create, but the thing about clay artwork is that it reflects countless hours of practice.” “My piece is a large vessel about two feet tall with a bulbous base and a trumpet like top with large curvy handles on each side,” said Skiba. “ It took about three weeks to build and then another four days to glaze it, approximately.” “I actually submitted a portfolio, and it took about three months to complete all eight pieces,” said Limardo.
However, not all art requires weeks or months. “I won for photography, so I did not have to work very long on the piece,” said Litoff. “My picture was taken last summer on my family’s vacation to Japan. The picture is of two Japanese girls kneeling on the ground, but all you can see is their backs and feet. They were wearing these frilly Lolita costumes and fancy high heels, and I thought it was interesting.” Despite their hard work and unique opportunity, however, the New York trip did not initially seem completely possible for these five seniors. The dates lined up for the trip are June 4-6. “We didn’t think it would be possible to attend because of graduation and costs,” said Litoff, “ but Chicago Public Schools offered to sponsor half of the trip, and Lane Tech was able to provide some funds too.” (The actress Kathy Bates and painter Philip Pearlstein presented the students with their medals at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Lane Tech students represented five of the twenty-eight students who won awards from Illinois.)
BRAD PITT BUYS PAINTINGS FROM
FILIPINO-AMERICAN STUDENT
