ABOVE LEFT Rebekah painted her own version of Leonid Afremov’s Evening Rain in the Park on a wall in the VHS art room. OPPOSITE PAGE Rebekah’s art is full of color and contrast. The bottom left painting was based on the Charles Wood Stadium and won a Congressional People’s Choice Art Award. R E B E K A H H I LTON Elmer’s art would have been a hard act to follow had Rebekah been following. Both seniors this year, Rebekah and Elmer have been friends since the 3rd grade. Ironically, the catalyst for Rebekah’s interest in art was also an art contest in elementary school. “We were all told to draw our parents at their work. My dad was a Nuclear Engineer, but at the time, I thought that meant he was an electrician. So, I drew him working on something as an electrician,” said Rebekah. Her drawing won 1st place and was chosen to appear in a coloring book. “I started painting in middle school,” said Rebekah. Her friend Elmer already had a reputation for his talent, which was a little intimidating at first. “When I first started, I thought, ‘I can’t be as good as Elmer.’” She turned and smiled at her friend, “No offense, Elmer.” Rebekah’s older sister Caroline (Hilton) did something that can only be described as brilliant. “She kept bringing me paints and canvases and showing me pictures she wanted me to paint for her. Looking back at them, they look terrible to me now, but she kept me painting through middle school,” said Rebekah, which was long enough to get Rebekah beyond what she referred to as “middle school comparing.” I smiled. That was about the best description I’d heard to describe something many adults struggle with all their lives that simply boils down to “middle school comparing.” “I don’t feel intimidated anymore,” said Rebekah. “It’s Elmer.” She gave him a quick smile. “And I know how art works. Everyone’s art is different. That’s what makes it art.” Her rendition of Evening Rain in the Park, originally by Leonid Afremov, covered a large section of the wall adjacent to Elmer’s The Last Supper. It was truly amazing. “Once I got into high school, I really got into it.” Rebekah took art classes with Mrs. Banks her 10th, 11th, and 12th grade years. “In most things we’re taught in school, we’re taught to do things a certain way. There’s a curriculum with standards. With art, you don’t have to go by a standard. You can let yourself go. Just show off who you are and how you think. The world isn’t just a set of standards. There’s differentiation in the workplace. Art creates the ability to problem solve. I think when kids don’t get art at a young age, they don’t evolve,” said Rebekah. This senior at VCHS had just given as good a defense for art in education that I’d ever heard. Sure, kids need knowledge. They need the boundaries of facts and figures. But art allows the mind to “evolve,” into a “thinker” as Rebekah put it. Art allows a child the freedom to express ideas. There’s no failure in art. The limitations of right and wrong are removed to allow room for thought and enjoyment. In the 11th grade, Rebekah placed 2nd in the local Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week competition (2016) and 2nd at the Altama Museum of Art & History Youth Art Show (2016) for her mixed media piece The Strands of Life. She won People’s Choice for her painting entitled In Plain Sight for the Congressional Art Award-An Artistic Discovery People’s Choice award (12th grade) and placed 2nd in the local competition for Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week (2017). The piece won Honorable mention in the State Competition. Other awards during her senior 68 Toombs County Magazine
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