Love of art flows through Monroe junior’s veins

Megan Long’s photo will be on display at Capitol.

Submitted Monroe High School junior Megan Long's digital photograph "Vein" will be showcased in the hallways of Congress for one year. Long won first place in the Congressional Art Competition at the Fairfield Community Arts Center.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Submitted Monroe High School junior Megan Long's digital photograph "Vein" will be showcased in the hallways of Congress for one year. Long won the Congressional Art Competition at the Fairfield Community Arts Center.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Denise Wilson, Staff Writer Updated 6:44 PM Sunday, May 31, 2009

A photograph taken by Monroe High School junior Megan Long will be showcased in the hallways of Congress for one year.

The digital photograph of her eye entitled “Vein” recently won her first place in the Congressional Art Competition, conducted at the Fairfield Community Arts Center.

Long’s artistic efforts landed her and her family an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to see her photograph hung in the U.S. Capitol during an awards ceremony scheduled for June 24, and a $1,500 scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga.

Long, 16, said she will make the trip with her dad, Cary and her mom, Veronica, and they will be joined in Washington by her grandparents, Denny and Joyce Long.

She said she did not expect to get that far in the competition. She was in last year’s event and didn’t place.

“I was hoping I’d get first place, but I didn’t expect to. I was kind of in awe that I actually got first,” Long said.

She said the thought of her work being hung in the hallways of Congress is “amazing.”

“I’m really excited that they’re going to do that. I really can’t believe my piece is going to be in (Washington) D.C.,” she said.

Long said that she was experimenting with her eye when she took the photo of “Vein” outside of her house.

“I had gone outside because it was really neat lighting. Then I just kind of put the camera next to my eye and I took a picture,” she said.

“I had to take like 50 pictures to get the one I wanted right. The lighting of the camera hit the lens so it reflected a rainbow on my eye. It was really cool.”

Her photograph is part of her classwork for an independent study class taught by Monroe High School visual art teacher Diana Mueller called Portfolio Preparation.

Long said art and her interest in science — space science and biology — are a couple of career paths she would like to pursue after graduation. “I have many avenues that I would love to take right now, but art, definitely, I’d love to pursue,” she said.

Long also plays outfielder and backup catcher on her school’s varsity girls’ softball team and is a member of the Art Club.

Contact this reporter  at (513) 483-5219 or dewilson@coxohio.com.

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