MANCHESTER — When high school junior Allison Nitkiewicz of Pleasant Street first began painting a self-portrait this year, she had no idea the 24-by-30-inch oil would become her ticket to travel the country.
But this month the painting was the grand prize-winner of the annual 6th Congressional District High School Art Awards, earning Nitkiewicz a trip to Washington, D.C., to see the portrait hung in the halls of the U.S. Capitol.
And in June, Nitkiewicz will travel to New York to receive a silver medal at Carnegie Hall for the Scholastic Art and Writing Alliance's national competition.
"It is going to be exciting," Nitkiewicz said about going to New York and Washington. "I have no idea what they have planned."
Nitkiewicz, 17, who said she has enjoyed drawing for years, first began painting last year when she took a painting class at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly.
Unable to fit Manchester Essex art teacher Marion Powers' art class in her schedule this year, Nitkiewicz has been doing an independent study program while helping Powers as a teaching assistant in her middle school art class.
The self-portrait started as an assignment Powers gave her to create an oil painting in the style of artist Chuck Close, who specialized in photorealistic self-portraits, often with graphic elements.
But as the painting started coming together, Nitkiewicz said yesterday she liked the realism and natural look of the painting and decided not to add any patterns or graphics.
"I liked the way it was going realistically and just took it from there," Nitkiewicz said. "I really like being able to use colors. There are so many different things you can do in painting."
Nitkiewicz said when she graduates from Manchester Essex next year, she hopes to study painting in college, either at an art college or liberal arts school with a good art program.
Powers said yesterday that Nitkiewicz distinguished herself from other students not only by her talent, but by her appetite for exploring new concepts and challenges in her work.
"She has the technique down, but that is only a part," Powers said. "She is going beyond the pretty pictures. The thought process is the most important part to a teacher and she goes in different directions and challenges herself."
Nitkiewicz this year was one of six Manchester Essex students, out of eight participating, to win awards in the Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards.
Powers said Nitkiewicz was the first Manchester Essex student to win the Sixth Congressional District Awards or achieve recognition in the national Scholastic Awards.
Nitkiewicz recently started a landscape painting based on a photograph she took of a road in New Mexico. The painting will be broken up into several square segments with a different painting style used in each area.
"She is definitely challenging herself," Powers said. "Not just playing it safe."
Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
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